


Wiccans

by punk_assnerd



Series: Within These Carved Hearts [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Fae! Minghao, I'll add more tags along the way, M/M/M/M, Magic, ONE OF THE BEST POLY SHIPS IN seventeen, SEVENTEEN witches/wiccans AU, Supernatural Elements, Wizards, alchemists, attempt at world building, idk how to tag, idk how to tag sorry, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-09-30 14:20:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20448518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punk_assnerd/pseuds/punk_assnerd
Summary: A simple rescue assignment goes sideways and everyone is wondering if they have enough time to shop.





	1. Mingyu

**Author's Note:**

> SO  
I know I said no more series until I finish everything but this has been in the works for months now. I hope I explained Everything PROPERLY. but yeah. This is gonna be quite short just 5 chapters but I love this world so I'm making it a series aodhsnsbsjsjsj
> 
> ANYWAYS ENJOY READING  
PLEASE KNOW I DID MY BEST IN EXPLAINING EVERYTHING

Mingyu groans, finally giving up on trying to sleep since the car keeps shaking and swaying from Minghao's fast driving.

He slumps to his side and lets his head rest on Wonwoo's shoulder until they hit another rough patch and he ended up hitting his head hard on Wonwoo's shoulder. Wonwoo chuckles as Mingyu groans even more.

"Can you shut him up, please?" Minghao says from the driver's seat and Mingyu hears Jun and Wonwoo laugh.

"He's  _ like that _ because of the flight. You know how he is with flying." Jun says from in front of him and Minghao clicks his tongue.

"You two keep babying him,  _ that's _ why he's like that." Minghao retorts and Wonwoo snorts.

"Would you rather we baby you?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu open's his eyes to see Minghao glaring at him on the rearview mirror.

"I'd rather you all shut the fuck up." Minghao says and Mingyu can feel the air still inside the car. Minghao takes a deep breath and eases his foot on the gas, slowing the car down a bit.

"Sorry. This place is... This place is just... It's hurting. It's hurting so bad and it's....  _ frustrating _ ." Minghao says and Mingyu sighs. He lifts his hand up to Minghao's right shoulder, Wonwoo places his hand on Minghao's left shoulder, and Jun places his hand over Minghao's on the stick. Mingyu hates tapping into the Wild, given the nature of his craft, but he trusts Minghao to reel him back if needed. 

Mingyu closes his eyes and tries to feel it. He taps into Minghao and tries to listen for the wild and he flinches when he hears it's pain. Mingyu squeezes Minghao's shoulder and lets go at the same time the other two does.

"What the hell are they doing to this place?" Jun asks on the passenger seat in front of him and Mingyu groans as his head starts throbbing even more. 

"I think it's affecting Mingyu, too." Wonwoo says and Mingyu closes his eyes. He leans back and lets Wonwoo hold his hand.

"How long till we get there?" Wonwoo asks.

"According to the tracker, we're just half a mile away. But the thing is, I think he's in the middle of the city." Jun says and Wonwoo sighs.

"When I requested an overseas trip to Jeonghan with you three, I didn't mean it like this." Wonwoo says and Mingyu squeezes his hand.

"Nah, it's fine. Aside from the dying nature and the scorching heat, the Philippines isn't that bad." Mingyu assures the elder and Jun laughs.

"Mingyu, we've been here an hour and you've thrown up twice and fainted three times." Jun says and Mingyu reaches in front of him and pinches his neck. Jun laughs as he slaps Mingyu's hands away and Wonwoo tells them to settle down.

"Everyone quiet down and just, I don't know, enjoy the scenery." Wonwoo says and Jun snorts.

"What scenery? The patch of open land around all this concrete?" Jun says distastefully.

"Well, at least the sky is clear." Wonwoo says and Mingyu hears Minghao huff.

"Not for long. I can feel the clouds coming. Problem is i don't know where it's coming from. It's like.. It's like there's chaos in every direction." Minghao says and Wonwoo sighs.

"Okay.  _ Okay. _ We're all miserable, it's hot, there's a storm coming, and the wild here is in excruciating pain. Can we at least focus on some sort of small victory here?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu opens his eyes and sees Wonwoo glaring outside.

"Well, I'm sitting next to this  _ really _ hot guy." Mingyu says and Wonwoo gave him a glance and Mingyu jumps when Wonwoo shocks his hand with a spark. 

"The gas tank is full." Minghao says and starts speeding up.

"We can go buy some clothes here later. I heard they've got plenty of malls here." Jun says and Minghao giggles at that.

"We're on an assignment. And where did you get that info?" Minghao asks and Jun shrugs.

"This new spell i made called the  _ internet _ . And we're here for a full week. All expenses paid. If we finish this job in two days we have five more days of leisure and relaxation. An actual vacation." Jun explains and Mingyu smiles.

"And it's shopping. Don't pretend like that doesn't peak your interest even the slightest bit." Mingyu adds and Minghao looks at him through the rearview mirror.

"As long as I can pick outfits for you three. I wanna see you two wear something other than plain shirts everywhere." Minghao adds and Mingyu smiles, knowing that he meant the two older ones. 

"That sounds promising." Wonwoo says.

"I don't know. They look nice as it is. I don't mind." Mingyu adds and Wonwoo wraps his arms around Mingyu's back and pinches his arm.

Minghao then took a turn and they entered a sort of highway again.

They drive in silence for another few minutes before Jun takes out the map he bought at the airport along with his tracker. Jun's tracker is an old fish hook straightened out and with fairy properties, the best tracker they have among the four of them, and he whispers the spell and lets it float in front of him. the tracker spins and starts floating around a holographic map. When it stopped, Jun aligns the actual map under it and folds it back up. 

"I cross referenced our tracker to a map and it says here that he's in the middle of some parade ground? In Clark? Are we in Clark?" Jun asks Minghao and Mingyu can see his tracker floating on top of the map and Mingyu averted his eyes since the tracker always shimmers when activated and it's just giving him a headache on top of his head ache.

"We've been in Clark the whole time, Junnie. Our airport was in Clark." Wonwoo explains and Mingyu smiles when Jun shrugs.

"We're coming up on him. I'll park at the edge so we can tesser back if we need to." Minghao says as he maneuvers the car and parks it at the edge of a clearing. There were small houses around the parking area that Mingyu assumes weren't actual houses and a wide open space in the middle.

"We're here." Minghao says and Mingyu shakes himself, tries to ignore the throbbing in his head and heads out of the car. 

They piled out of the car and looked around, checked if anyone was looking before Wonwoo decides to plant a marker under the car. Wonwoo looks around and picks up a rock, he lets it rest in his palm as he stitches a spell onto it. When the rock hovers over Wonwoo's palm, Wonwoo flips his hands palm down and did the tesser sign. His four fingers together with his thumb sticking out and then placing the tip of his index fingers touch as well as his thumbs, making a triangle. He then lifts his hands up without breaking the sign, letting the rock pass through the triangle and turning it into a marker. 

Afterwards, he breaks the tesser sign and held his palms up again and starts chanting a duplication spell onto the marker as the stone floats over his palm. He then places both of his hands on either side of the stone and pulls his hands away. The stone then duplicates, two markers floating in front of him and he does the spell one more time. He pulls his hands away again and both stones duplicated again. Now four markers are floating in front of Wonwoo's chest and he stitches their name in each marker.

A little safety net they learned to have the hard way when someone had used their marker and ended up with Mingyu getting a knife in his stomach

Wonwoo ties the spell and catches the markers before they fall on the ground. He gave them each their own markers and they followed Jun towards the open grounds.

There were a lot of people around. Some were jogging around the open ground. Some were playing on the grass. And some were just hanging out, having a small picnic under the shade of the trees at the edge. Mingyu sticks close to Wonwoo as they walked and he tries to listen for the wild here. Here it was less pained. Less hurt. Less touched. But it was still impure. Mingyu hears trees, feels where they were cut and where sharp cold objects pierces their skin. He feels the overwhelming heat on their leaves and he has to pull himself back before he gets any further. They have to focus.

He has to focus.

Jun was leading them towards the middle of park, where a man was playing with his dog. Jun stops walking and nods towards the man. He was korean. Jeonghan had said as much. And Mingyu felt affection on Jeonghan's briefing when he spoke about the man. The man was built nicely, he had fair skin that is a stark contrast on his black shirt and black shorts, and his hair was dancing with the wind. He looks like he's in his mid twenties but Mingyu knows he's over a thousand years old. All grand wiccans usually are. 

When they were a few meters away, Mingyu feels the start of a spell stitching around them a second before the rest and he stands in the middle of the three of them and pulls out his necklace. He says the last two syllables of the safeguard spell and he feels it expand over them as the outside spell crumble around the four of them.

A little stored magic is never not useful.

All of them faced their back to each other in an instant and Mingyu tries to pick out who was trying to attack them.

He does the compulsion sign with his hands, same as with the tesser but flipping his right hand down and placing his thumbs together forming an s-shape with his hands before pulling his thumbs apart until they reach the first knuckle in his index finger and making a diamond window, and he tries to reach out and feel for any negative emotions. He closes his eyes and tried to read as many as he can around the area and he feels someone's panic and confusion somewhere to his left. Mingyu focuses in on him and marks him for Wonwoo. The man must've felt the mark Mingyu left and tried to break it but Wonwoo spreads his palms out and connects his pointer fingers and thumbs and makes a small triangle window with his hands, focuses on the guy, and claps his hands close. He tessers the guy a few feet in front of them and Mingyu watches as he stiffens before he falls to the ground, thrashing with his hands on his sides as the grass around him were growing and wrapping around his legs. He didn't have to see to know that Jun was already working on him as Mignhao traps him. But almost instantly, the guy fades into nothing and Mingyu feels an arm around his shoulder.

"You guys are good." Someone says right behind Mingyu's ear and he sees Minghao and Jun jump away. Mingyu sees Wonwoo on the guy's other arm and before any of them could do anything, the guy snaps his fingers and the ground under Mingyu's feet falls and he free falls in the dark. He blinks and he falls back on a chair in what looks like an office of some sort. 

He looks around and sees Wonwoo to his right. Jun was on the furthest seat and Minghao was in between Jun and Wonwoo. All of them looking just as shaken as Mingyu.

"Sorry. I just had to check if you were up to par." Mingyu whips his head in front and the guy from the park was standing in front of the table. Now he was wearing a plain white button up shirt and black pants.

"And you all are exceptional. Especially your Tesser." The guy says and he smiles at Wonwoo. Mingyu's protective instincts wants to pounce on the guy but he knew better than to mess with a grand.

"Are you the grand of this sector?" Wonwoo asks, his expression and voice was neutral as he stares back at the grand.

"Yes I am. Grand Wiccan Seungcheol of the thirteenth institute. At your service." He then winks at Wonwoo and Mingyu wants to kick his grand ass so hard he'll end up in London without having to tesser. 

"For someone who specializes in compulsion, you sure have no control over your own emotions." Grand pain in the ass says as he grins at Mingyu while Mingyu scowls.

"Oh, trust me. I'm under control. You'll know when I'm not holding back." Mingyu says and Seungcheol laughs.

"Mingyu." Minghao says in a warning tone, but Mingyu's too riled up to care.

"All I'm saying is, if he wants me to show him control then I'd gladly-" Wonwoo's hand wraps around the back of his neck as Mingyu tries to stand up and he glances sideways to see Wonwoo giving him his  _ try me _ look. 

"He's not usually a head ass. He's just really...  _ protective _ ." Jun says the last word as if it was a threat and Mingyu suddenly remember the last time he pissed off Wonwoo and Jun. He leans back and huffs.

"I don't know. He's actually just like how Jeonghan says he would be. Quick witted, blunt, temperamental." Seungcheol says as he walks around his table and leans back on it as he faces them. 

Mingyu takes one quick look around and sees shelves on all the walls save for the windows behind Seungcheol's desk and the door behind them. Mingyu has seen the same type of books, grimioires, in Jeonghan's own office and even on Wonwoo's room. But he hasn't seen this much tesser manuals compiled in just one place.

"So this is Hannie's all star team. I gotta say, you all are pretty impressive." Seungcheol says and Minghao speaks up.

"You haven't even seen what we can do." Minghao says and Seungcheol gave him a once over with a smirk on his face and Mingyu grunts.

"I know what you can do. All of you. Grand Wild Xu, I presume. The wiccan with fae blood. Your head is probably ringing from hearing the wild here." Seungcheol says and Minghao averted his gaze to the ground. Mingyu sees him give Minghao a sort of soft look and Mingyu catches some sort of sympathy, understanding and bit of pity. Mingyu scowls. Minghao doesn't need pity.

"This specific region in the Philippines has a lot of major projects and constructions and we've had plenty of old bloods, native, come to us for aide. This place is the center of this country's Wild so I can't imagine how you must feel. So please do tell me if you need anything." Seungcheol says and Minghao nods timidly.

"And you. Junhui, right? I hear you went with Grand Illustrator Moon as your title. It has a really good ring to it. The moon is a great source of magic." Jun nods, a polite smile on his face. Mingyu almost laughs when he feels that Jun was almost as irritated at Seungcheol as he was. 

"You were  _ outstanding _ earlier. You mix truths in your Illusions, making the victim believe even more and making your illusions sink their teeth on them. A rather traditional technique. I can see why Jeonghan's proud to call you his apprentice." Jun nods and Seungcheol shifts his gaze back on Wonwoo. A rather heavy gaze if you ask Mingyu. 

"And the infamous Grand Tesser Jeon. The youngest grand tesser in history. Managed to tesser yourself and your grand wiccan to your rooftop without consent. Jeonghan wouldn't shut up about it, really. I wasn't sure if he was rambling because he was annoyed or if he was proud. And I should hold some grudge over you, really. Kicking me out of that title." Suengcheol winks at Wonwoo and Wonwoo's eyes grew wide.

"Wait. You're the Grand Tesser Choi?" Wonwoo asks and Seungcheol nods. 

"In the flesh." Seungcheol says and Wonwoo looks at him with this some sort of adoration. Mingyu didn't even have to focus to feel Wonwoo's pure admiration toward the grand wiccan and Mingyu keeps his mouth shut. Mingyu has seen enough manuals with that name in Wonwoo's room to know that Wonwoo respects him on a whole different level. 

"And that leaves is with Mingyu. Grand Compulser Kim. The one and only Grand Compulser. The last living Grand Compulser in the world. Or so we thought." Mingyu perks up at that and he looks and sees the other three staring at him.

"What did you just say?" Mingyu asks and Seungcheol's face turns somber. He puts on a serious look and waves his hand over his table. 

Seungcheol walks around his table again as four folders fly out to their laps from his table.

"I had requested to Jeonghan that I'd disclose the assignment to you myself. Not because it has to be kept on the low. But because an agitated compulser is never a good thing to have on a plane." Seungcheol says and Mingyu scans the file.

"His name is Lee Chan. Originally from Korea and was supposed to be admitted under the first institute. But his family, in a way, smuggled him out of the first institute and brought him here." Mingyu stares at the picture and tries to grasp on any emotion imprinted on it but he only feels blank. He's managed to ghost it. He studies his face and he looks young. His black hair and uniform making him look even younger in the picture. 

"We still aren't sure if he's aware of who he is or what he is but it seems he had been kidnapped two days ago. His family came to us for help because they thought this was more than just a regular kidnapping. You see, we found out that their family is a direct descendant of Prime Wiccan Lee." Seungcheol says and Mingyu can feel the rest hold their breath.

"I'll have to do a little review on our history here. So, if you will." Seungcheol raises his hands and they look at each other and nods. Mingyu takes Wonwoo's hand and they all link hands. Mingyu looks over at Minghao and they held onto Seungcheol's hand at the same time.

Mingyu likes to think that he's used to tessering from all the times Wonwoo's asked him to try it out for practice, but he really, really hates the feeling. 

He opens his eyes and sees that they're floating over nothing. Then suddenly a ball of light sparks in the middle of their circle and Mingyu's headache throbs back to life. 

The spark in front of them erupts and turns into a small globe of light. The light then shows images, flickers of silhouettes of five figures standing around the world.

"As you all know, wiccans work to keep the balance. The balance of life, light, and all that there is. And, so as to help up maintain this so called balance, we were given access to the five cardinal crafts of the primes." The figures then flicker away, leaving only one figure. 

The figure then lift one hand and the light dims to a deep green light. "The Grand Prime Wild. Our connection with nature, with the spirits that were, that are, and that will ever be. The wild is the foundation of our craft for they connect our world to the unseen world of nature." They all glanced at Minghao and he had on a neutral look. But Mingyu can feel turmoil in him. Some sort of feeling that wavers inside him. Minghao seems intimidating to everyone who doesn't know him but Mingyu knows he's just doing his best to not look as scared as he really was. 

Mingyu's thoughts were drawn back to the orb as it flickers out and was replaced by a ribbon twirling around in the middle of them, floating, almost dancing in the unseen wind and then it turns slowly into a bird with deep red feathers, flying around their heads. Mingyu stares as it flies around and smile when it flew behind Hundreds head and came out as a cat with fire for its fur. 

"The next one is the Grand Prime Illustrate. The ability to tap into minds and influence their senses to make them see, hear, and feel something that isn't there. Illusions, trickery of the senses and of the mind. This specific gift is for us to keep our identity a secret from mortals. They must never know of such power for they might use them for purposes that benefit their selfish desires. But along the years we learn to innovate and use Illustration to handle situations." Mingyu then stares at the cat floating around Jun's head disappear in an instant.

Then they find themselves back on the park. Mingyu blinks and then they were back on the office. He blinks again and then they're in a roof top of some high rise building. He presses his eyes close from the growing headache at the back of his head and he opens his eyes and see them back into exospace. 

Mingyu let's himself glare at Seungcheol for a minute and then takes a deep breath. 

"The Grand Prime Tesser. The ability to slip through time and space without ripping the fabric of space time continuum. This was a gift to us to keep ourselves connected with the rest of our kind. But we've also find out ways to weaponize such gifts. Now we can tesser a target in the middle of the sea or fifty feet up in the air. Some can even tesser a person's heart out of their body." Seungcheol explains and Mingyu can feel Wonwoo's hand grip his a little bit tighter. Mingyu turns to look at the older and Wonwoo gave him a tight lipped smile. He had always known Wonwoo's fascination with tessering was from pure curiosity and wonder. He never wanted to use it like that.

Then all of a sudden, Seungcheol pulls away and led Mingyu's hand to grasp onto Minghao's.

"And the rarest gift of all, the gift of the Grand Prime Compulser." Seugcheol says over Mingyu's ears and Mingyu accidentally taps into all three of them at once. Their auras were drawn out and Mingyu closes his eyes. 

Minghao's aura is disturb, he's feeling the pain of someone else and it's tipping the balance of his soul.

Wonwoo was calm, but with the underlying feeling of bother. He was trying not to worry about something that worries him and Mingyu is a bit worried because of how good he's doing it.

And Jun was... Jun was always hard to read. Mingyu had thought maybe Jun was a Grand Compulser, too. A Grand compulser like him. But it turns out that Jun was just really good at handling his emotions.

Mingyu opens his eyes and sees the three of them with their eyes closed and their auras glowing. Mingyu subconsciously brings out their stitches together and panics. He then sees Seungcheol looking at him over Jun's shoulder and he reels back his boyfriends into themselves as he glares at Seungcheol.

"That was not fair. To me and to them." Mingyu says and Seungcheol shrugs.

"The compulser is known to be able to see the colors of our souls. The deepest feelings of each person and even influence them. If trained well enough, they can even control you altogether. That's why the Council arent all that bothered with the lack of Compulsers these days." Mingyu scowls at Seungcheol and Seungcheol just went back to his place and takes his and Minghaos hands again.

"And the last one is the gift that separates Grands, such as yourselves, to Grand Wiccans such as Jeonghan and I. The gift of the Grand Prime Hearth. The ability to tap into the warmth and life of the wild, of nature, and to use our bodies as convoys for this life source." Seungcheol then closes his eyes and Mingyu watches as his chest glows softly under his shirt and a gold vein like line glows under the skin of his arms and through Mingyu's and Minghaos hands. Mingyu takes a deep breath and he feels his head ache melt into nothing. He feels light, and warm, and refreshed. He feels the surge of energy go through him and through Wonwoo and he hears Wonwoo let out a sigh. Mingyu squeezes his hand and Wonwoo squeezes back. 

"Grand Wiccans has to master two of these gifts and be grand of those two gifts, the craft of Hearth and another craft, for them to be called as Grand Wiccans. One is called a Prime Wiccan once one has managed to learn more than two, and Grand Primes are masters of all these five crafts. In all of history, there's only been a handful of Grand Primes since the original Primes. Sometimes only one per generation and sometimes there isn't one at all. And one of those is Grand Prime Lee." Seungcheol explains.

"I have a question." Wonwoo speaks up and Seungcheol looks at him with a surprised and delighted smile.

"If Grand Primes are masters of all the crafts, then how come they're not here anymore? Aging is not a problem to Grand Wiccans so Grand Primes should still be here." Wonwoo asks and Seungcheol smiles.

"I never said they were gone. They're just simply not found." Seungcheol explains and Mingyu feels Wonwoo's frustration. 

"Grand primes are still here, they are both everywhere and nowhere all the time. They're not simple Wiccans, Wonwoo. They are, in a way, some sort of gods. Deities. Forces of nature personified. So, like the saying goes, we should not ask questions we're afraid to be answered." Seungcheol said with a smug smile on and Wonwoo levels him with a blank look.

"One can always fear the answers, but one can never avoid them." Wonwoo says back and Seungcheol gives him a long stare, smiling as he sizes Wonwoo up. 

"Jeonghan was right about you." Seungcheol says and he lets go of their hands. 

Without warning, he tessers the four of them back to his office and Mingyu's knees almost buckles from under him if Wownoo hadn't caught him. Seungcheol then goes on with his briefing.

"We believe that someone is interested in Lee Chan due to his link to the Grand Prime Lee. As you know, our bloodline is a massive factor with regards to our abilities." He glances at Minghao and Mingyu has half a mind to just induce the heaviest heartbreak onto Seungcheol and watch as he crumbles. But Mingyu knows he has to be better than that. He wants nothing more than to not be better than that, really. 

"It's a massive factor to our potential as wiccans. So it's urgent that we find Lee Chan as soon as possible." Seungcheols says as he takes a seat on his desk.

"Any questions?" Seungcheol asks and Wonwoo sets Mingyu back on the chair before turning to face him.

"Are you always this cocky?" Wonwoo asks and Jun places a hand on his shoulder. Seungcheol bursts into laughter and Mingyu just groans.

"Not usually. Only when I'm feeling like it." seungcheol says and Wonwoo takes a deep breath. 

Mingyu can feel Wonwoo's frustration ebbing out of him and he's not sure if thats adding up to the growing headache in his head.

"I've read about you, about your work and your papers on tessering since i was a kid. And now you use it so recklessly even with other people with you." 

"Wonwoo, that's enough." Jun pulls Wonwoo by his shoulder and Wonwoo shakes his hand off. 

"No! Tessering is dangerous if it's taken lightly like that. Look at Mingyu!" Wonwoo points at Mingyu and Mingyu waves his hand in a dismissive manner.

"I'm fine." Mingyu says and he can feel everyone looking at him. Even Seungcheol.

"Wait." Seungcheol stands up and went around his table towards Mingyu. He kneels in front of Mingyu and places a hand on the side of Mingyu's face. Mingyu closes his eyes and feels the same warmth he felt earlier. But this time it didn't do anything to lessen the pounding in his head. 

"He's always been sensitive to tessering and you go and-" "Quiet." Seungcheol cuts him off and Mingyu feels Wownoo's frustration seep out of him.

"No. You listen here-" Seungcheol raises his hand and closes it in a fist and then pulls his hand down as if pulling an invisible rope. Mingyu closes his eyes and feels his body lift up and then feels a soft warm bed under him in an instant.

"Mingyu's not affected by my tessering. I knew how to warp around him with more space than usual so he doesn't get affected by tessering, Wonwoo. I  _ invented _ that technique." Seungcheol explains and Mingyu opens his eyes to see that they're in a different room. 

Seungcheol runs a hand through Mingyu's hair and Mignyu can feel Seungcheol trying to hide his panic. He can feel him pushing it out of the way.

"This is bad. I need you four to tesser back to the first institute right now and to tell Jeonghan that Lee Chan is a compulser. There's no time to explain but just do as I say. Now!" Seungcheol explains and Mingyu feels Wonwoo's hand in his as his headache starts throbbing hard again. He let's go and pulls at his hair as it starts to throb harder and harder. It also doesn't help when he feels everyone start to worry and panic around him.

"I-I can't... I can't tesser out! Someone's locking me here!" Wonwoo says Mingyu can feel everyone's panic and confusion swarming around his head.

** _I'm here._ **

"Someone is keeping you in this sector. I'm going to tesser you three out so I want you to give this information to Jeonghan. I'm not sure yet but I think whoever took Lee Chan is using him to tap into Mingyu." Seungcheol explains. 

"Tap into Mingyu?" Minghao's voice seems closer to Mingyu now and Mingyu feels a hand on his chest and feels Minghao trying to read him. 

"They're... How is this possible?" Minghao's voice over him says.

"Minghao we don't have time. I need to-" Seungcheol was cut off by Mingyu's groaning.

"They're tapping into him and... and they're stitching him into the Wild..." Minghao says and Mingyu feels his head throb again.

** _I'm here. Come find me._ **

"Find you where?" Mingyu asks.

"What?" Mignhao's voice says over him.

"They're stitching him with this place? Is that even possible?" Wonwoo asks. Mingyu feels his head pulsing harder and harder with every word they say. 

"If you have a link, some sort of connection to the Wild, then yeah. But to specifically stitch Mingyu with this kind of distance is impossible." Minghao explains.

"It's not impossible." Seungcheol says quietly.

"What?" Wonwoo asks this time.

"They've tapped onto Mingyu. You see, Compulsers are open links. Imagine a phone that is always searching for a wifi signal." Seungcheol explains.

"Yeah, But only a compulsers can establish a link with someone else, not the other way around." Wonwoo counters.

"Yeah. That's the case for Mingyu because he's literally the only recorded compulser. But with two compulsers, things aren't like that. They're more like... like a bluetooth connection. A two way connection, in a way. A compulser can latch onto another as easily as you can tap into the Wild." Seungcheol explains and Mingyu's head rings.

** _Come and find me. Find us. _ **

Mingyu squirms on the bed and Minghao had to grab hold of his wrist to stop him from trashing.

"But why is he hurting? Compulsers can't inflict pain like this!" Jun's voice rings over them.

"That's not what's hurting Mingyu." Minghao's voice over him says.

"When we stitched, back then, remember how he reacted?" Mignhao says and Mingyu's mind clears for a second. It shows the four of them standing in a circle with Jeonghan looking over the ritual. But his head rings in pain again and he claws at his hair.

"Compulsers are empaths by nature. All of us are, in a way, but grand Compulsers don't just get a sense of your emotions, they feel it like it's their own. That's where their name  _ heart bearer _ came from." Mingyu then feels Minghao's hand on his chest again. This time over his heart. Mingyu places his hand over it as well and he feels Minghao's aura reaching into his.

"It's the Wild. They were trying to keep us here by stitching him onto the Wild but now the Wild is taking over the stitching and it's using Mingyu as a convoy." Minghao's voice sasy over him. Mingyu feels his head ache again, but now it feels more like someone's literal grasp on his head, pulling him away from himself as Minghao pulls him back. 

"The Wild would never hurt someone like-" Seungcheol started to say but was cut off by Minghao talking over him.

"Mingyu's not hurting because the Wild is hurting him. Haven't you been listening to a single thing I've said? He's not in pain, like, at all! He's just feeling what  _ it _ is feeling." Minghao explains and Mingyu feels frustration seep out from Minghao before he composes himself again.

** _You know who we are. Who i am. come find me. It's your old friend_ **

Then Mingyu hears someone's pained scream, he's not sure if it was his or someone, or something, else's.

But he hears it.

And he  _ feels _ it.

A deep rumbling pain in his heart that has him choked up.

A sad and painful cry that made Mingyu think of a crying whale. Something that could be beautiful but it's surrounded by darkness and hurt and corruption.

He feels it like it's his own pain and he cries like it's his own cries.

That's until he hears them, until he feels Minghao's hand on his. He takes a deep breath and opens his eyes.

And just like that, the pain stops. 

He opens his eyes and sees Jun and Wonwoo standing behind Minghao, their hands on his shoulder, as Minghao grips his hand. Mingyu feels relief. He feels weak. He feels heavy in his heart.

He sits up and lets himself be pulled into Minghao's arms, leaning his head on Minghao's chest and wrapping his arms around Minghao's back as Minghao wraps his arms around his shoulder.

"You're okay. We're okay." Mighao says and Mingyu lets out a relieved sigh.

"You four..." Seungcheol's voice says over their backs and Mingyu stiffens.

"You're stitched together. You're... But how did you..." Seungcheol says and he sighs. He shakes his head and starts pacing the room.

"It's not... we didn't do any dark alterations. Mingyu did it." Jun explains and Mingyu buries his face on Minghao's stomach as Minghao stands up.

"What?" Seungcheol's voice was deeper now, more authoritative than before.

"I did the entanglement." Mingyu hears himself say. His voice was a bit hoarse from the screaming but he clears his throat and swallows.

"We can only be entangled to one person for the rest of our life." Seungcheol says firmly. Like they needed scolding right now.

"Supposedly." Wonwoo's voice says and Mingyu feels too tired for this conversation right now. 

" _ Supposedly? _ What the fuck does that mean?" Seungcheol says and Mingyu can't give two shits about his frustration over it right now.

"Can we not focus on this right now? We need to talk about more pressing matters at hand." Mingyu says, pulling Minghao away from his face and staring at a stoic looking Seungcheol.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is you breaking the Constitution of the Primes, that could possibly get you four prosecuted by the way, not  _ pressing _ enough for you?" Seungcheol says with a leveled gaze and Mingyu tries to glare back as hard as he can with his current state.

"I don't know, is that more pressing than the Grand Prime that was just trying to hi-jack my body?" Mingyu asks, he suddenly feels light headed as he sees Seungcheol's calm demeanor shattered in to a face of disbelief.

"I didn't... Didn't think so..." Mingyu says clutching at his head before falling back on the bed and seeing nothing but black.

  
  
  
  


Mingyu opens his eyes and the first thing he noticed was that he was already standing. 

He looks around and sees trees. Trees for miles and miles in every direction. He steps forward and he feels the ground on the sole of his bare feet. He looks down and sees that he's only wearing loose and soft canvas pants that flows with the wind.

He feels panic for a second before he feels something call him. Or  _ feels _ something call him. He looks up and sees a faint light a distance away in front of him. He starts to walk and tries to reach out to anyone's aura. He tries to scan the area but stops when he feels the same grip on his head again. 

Mingyu drops to his knees and grips his hair. The pain was back, it was more real, more  _ concrete _ than before and Mingyu whimpers as it rings in his head.

Mingyu has never felt, never even thought, of pain like this. It's like Mingyu's being burned and skinned alive. Every part of him hurts and struggles to breathe. He let's out a silent cry as he grips his hair and hair chest. His head drops to the ground and he finally got to scream.

Hearing his own scream scared him and he shivers and sweats as he yells, as he screams for it to stop.

And it did. 

He falls forward, his hands barely lifting him up, as he feels the grip on him loosen. He looks up and sees the light shining brighter. So he staggers as he stands up and slowly makes his way towards it again. 

Mingyu feels lighter, somehow. He feels like his more grounded now, more fitted in his skin, as he walks with his shoulders high. He feels something lurking around. He feels multiple things lurking around and somehow he knows that they won't hurt him. He walks and walks and suddenly he's out in a clearing. 

Mingyu looks around and sees that he's in the park from earlier. Right where they parked the car. But the park was empty of cars and people. Just an open field surrounded by trees. 

Well, it was empty save for a couple of people sitting in front of an open fire in the middle of the park. 

Mingyu was trained to be wary of every situation such as this but he feels this strong sense of comfort and safety coming from the light. So he walks on. 

The closer he gets, the more defined the figures are starting to seem. They were both guys. Wearing the same type of clothes Mingyu was but they were both wearing shirts.

One of them, Mignyu recognizes immediately. It was Lee Chan. Only he had light brown hair now instead of the black hair he was sporting on the pictures in his files. He was floating a couple of marshmallows on top of the open flames and was laughing along to whatever the other guy was saying. The other guy had his back turned to Mingyu so he can't really see much. But he had deep black hair, so black that Mingyu thinks it's seeping the light around him and bending light away from him. 

When Mingyu was a few feet away, the guy stands up and turns to face Mingyu. And all of a sudden Mingyu's hit with a powerful surge of thoughts and emotions and a wave of energy crashing through him.

"That's how you feel like to other Compulsers, Mingyu." The guy says and Mingyu stares back. 

He looked unreal. His black hair was flirting around the wind, brushing across his face and swaying above his ear. His face was, well, Mingyu can't say if it looks old or young, but it looks quiet. Calm. Mingyu was a couple of feet away from them but the guy holds up his hand and suddenly he's standing right in front of him. He was definitely shorter than Mingyu but the way his aura speaks to Mingyu almost makes him feel like fifty foot taller than Mingyu.

"Don't be alarmed, Mingyu. I'm not gonna hurt you. Nothing's gonna hurt you here." He says and Mingyu knows it's true. Mingyu's sure of it for a reason. He takes his hand and Mingyu feels an overwhelming feeling of warmth and light surround him. He takes a step closer and he sees the fire in the middle blaze up in a pure white light. He's not sure why, but he keeps walking towards it. He feels the guy let go of him and he just keeps taking one more step closer towards the fire and reaches up his hand to touch it. The fire then flickers in his hand and he watches as it spreads up his arm. He takes one last look down his body, watching as the fire spreads throughout his body, and he closes his eyes. 

"You're not afraid of the Wild, Mingyu." He hears the guy again. 

"You're affected by the Wild easily because you can't control  _ yourself _ ." Mingyu realizes belatedly that the guy and the voice inside his head earlier were the same. 

He was the one who called for Mingyu. 

"You need to accept your connection to the Wild, Mingyu. Don't let them tell you who you are." Mingyu feels the fire spread around his chest.

Flashes of his own memories pop up his mind. 

_ Their usual practice where they teach each other more and more about each craft. Mingyu favors Jun's lessons more, and not because he's more lenient than Wonwoo of Minghao, but because it's the least straining one.  _

_ Tessering with Wonwoo was okay when they cover short distances. But whenever they go as far as just a city away, Mingyu would feel this weight on him, like some sort of drag in his heart that he passes for just him feeling lightheaded and a bit out of breath. Mingyu can see Wonwoo's concern everytime they tesser and Mingyu feels just a little bit guilty when they have to take other means of transportation all because they have to take him into consideration. _

_ But what's harder than that is practicing with Minghao. With the Wild.  _

_ Mingyu's not sure if it's because he's a compulser or if he had it bad on his previous life that the wild liked to punish him specifically, but tapping into the wild is always a pain for him.  _

_ The very first time, Minghao freaked out when Mingyu started crying out of nowhere. The second time, Minghao gripped his hands tighter as Mingyu lets the tears fall. And the third time... the third time they asked Jeonghan about it.  _

_ Mingyu remembers Jeonghan watching him as they try again and he remembers Jeonghan doing the same thing Seungcheol did just a while ago. using their hearth to make him feel better.  _

"Your fear of the wild is understandable. But it's also misdirected." Mingyu hears the voice again. 

"Heart bearers often face the same problems. To carry the weight of the world in your heart is such a burden, isn't it?" The voice asked and Mingyu nods, trying to keep his whimpering to himself as he feels the pain make its way back to his neck and up to his head. But now it's spreading down to his throat and to his chest.

"But that's why entanglement was first done. Wiccans are strong, powerful convoys of nature that brings balance to this world. But they're stronger  _ together _ ." The voice said. Mingyu hears the word 'together' ring in his head over and over and he sees all four of them.

_ He sees them huddled together. It was right after their stitching was done and Jeonghan had come back to his room.  _

"The wild thinks of you as a shell, now you have to show it that you're not just a shell." the voice said and Mingyu thinks of everything he is. 

_ You're amazing _

_ _

Mingyu hears Jun's words and he feels a gentle weight on his heart. He remembers these words when he surprised Jun with Chinese home-cooked food on his birthday a year after they entangled and Mingyu soaked up the praises the the elder gave him the entire night. Jun even apologized to the other two because he felt like he was focusing on Mingyu but they said they didn't mind. Mingyu remembered that that was the very first time he finally felt connected to Jun. The way he thanked him, how he hugged him that night, how he kissed him as he tried not to cry. 

_ You're amazing, Kim Mingyu. I have never met anyone with a heart bigger than the one in your chest.  _

_ You're wonderful _

Wonwoo's voice brought Mingyu back to the institute. Wonwoo and Jun had been dubbed as Grand Tesser and Grand Illustrator for aonth now and Wonwoo had just gotten back from his first assignment. Mingyu waited for him by the gates and the moment Wonwoo tessered to the gates, Mingyu felt his exhaustion and his frustration in an instant. So Mingyu took Wonwoo's bag in one hand and Wonwoo's right hand on the other and led him to his room. Wonwoo took a quick shower and Mingyu waited on his bed. Wonwoo came out the bathroom feeling lighter and Mingyu smiled as he asked the older if he could sleep over for the night. Wonwoo nods and Mingyu settled on the bed as Wonwoo dried his hair. Wonwoo then crawled on the bed and settled next to Mingyu. Wonwoo then scoots closer and nuzzles his face on Mingyu's neck.  _ You're wonderful, you know. Thank you for always understanding, Mingyu.  _

_ You're annoying _

Mingyu feels laughter bubble up in his chest at Minghao's teasing words. The two of them had been sent to the first institute and Mingyu always runs to Minghao on his free time because he can feel people staring at him the moment they find out who he was. So far he was the only one under the Compulser title and it's more of a nuisance to him than an honor. He'd hide in the library or in his own room until Minghao drags him out. But the one time he did go out he saw a few people crowding around Minghao and pestering him about his family. So Mingyu, without thinking, steps up in front of Minghao and focused hard enough on everyone there until they all simultaneously started tearing up. Minghao stares for a moment and then he smiles and starts dragging him to his room.  _ You're annoying, you know that? You hide away from people bothering you but would stand up to people bothering me?  _

Mingyu smiles as he recalls every memory he's had since then, all the times he was glad to have them and all the times they were glad that he was there. 

He then feels the grip on his head again but this time it was gentler, calmer. Mingyu feels it grasp around his heart and he sighs when he feels warmth spread through his chest and through his whole body. 

And then he feels a hand grip his right hand and pulls him forward. Mingyu takes a couple of steps forwards and he stops when he feels the fire warming up his back. He opens his eyes and sees the guy smiling up at him. 

"Congratulations, Mingyu. You officially have mastered the craft of Hearth." the guy says and Mingyu smiles wide.

"And congratulations for being a Grand Wild." Mingyu's smile fell. 

" _ What? _ " Mingyu asks. The guy then snapped his fingers and his clothes turned to regular ones. Mingyu looks down and sees his own clothes on and he sees Chan changed too.

"Take a seat. I'm sure Chan has more marshmallows for everyone." the guy says and Mingyu turns to face him.

"Everyone?" Mingyu asks.

"Oh yeah. you should probably help him up." He nodded over Mingyu's shoulder and Mingyu turns to see someone sitting on the grass with his back to the fire Mingyu walks up cautiously towards the man and Mingyu recognized him when he was a couple of steps away.

"Wait, how are you here." 


	2. Minghao

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I'm still making sense here but yeah enjoy

The second Mingyu passed out, Minghao felt his heart drop.

He's in a totally new environment with the most hurt and unnerving wild he has ever felt and shit keeps happening to them every five fucking minutes. 

Mingyu's eyes roll back as he falls forward and Minghao feels his the air leave his lungs as Mingyu falls unconscious. All three of them rush to Mingyu as he falls and they settled him down on the bed in a more comfortable position.

Jun runs a hand through Mingyu's hair and both Minghao and Wonwoo stare as he closes his eyes. A second later he opens his eyes and he frowns down at Mingyu. 

"I can't... It's blank. He's not even dreaming. He's just unconscious." Jun says as he holds the side of Mingyu's face and rubs his thumb on his cheek. 

"Someone tell me something before I tesser Jeonghan here right now and let him handle you lot." Seungcheol says from behind them and Minghao has half a mind to crack open the ground and let it swallow Seungcheol whole.

"You think he doesn't know? He knew the day before we did it. He was there when we did it." Wonwoo explains and Minghao can't help but smile when Seungcheols frown turned into a shocked and rather betrayed face then back to a frown. A deeper, much more annoying frown.

"You expect me to believe that a Grand Wiccan such as Jeonghan would let his four best apprentices do a stitching that's against the Constitution of the Primes?" Seungcheol says, crossing his arms like he has the right to be disappointed in them.

"To be completely frank with you," Minghao steps back as Wonwoo steps closer to Seungcheol, "I expected a lot from the Great Grand Tesser Choi." Wonwoo says in an ice cold tone and Minghao chances a glance at Wonwoo and sees him wearing his 'calm' face. Minghao's not really one to pick or pull rank among the other three but if he has to pick the scariest from the three off them, it'll be 'calm' Wonwoo.

"But believe us or not, that is completely up to you. But right now our top priority is Mingyu. I don't give a fuck who you are and what your rank is and whatever the assignment is. We need to make sure he's alright first. So if you have a healer here or someone, anyone, who can help that we can contact, please call them right now." Wonwoo says and Minghao sees Jun place a hand on Wonwoo's shoulder. Seungcheol's stance eases a bit and he ran a hand over his hair and heaves out a deep sigh. He mumbles something about 'the fucking constitution' before tessering out of the room. 

The moment he's gone, Wonwoo visibly deflates and Jun pulls him back and walks up in front of him and engulfs him in a hug. 

"Do you have a thing for questioning every authoritative figure we meet or is that just, like, a massive coincidence?" Jun teases as he presses a hand on the back of Wonwoo's neck and wraps his other hand on Wonwoo's back. 

"Fuck off." Wonwoo mumbles on Jun's neck and Minghao smiles at them. 

Minghao sits at the edge of the bed and reaches for Mingyu's hand. Wonwoo pushes Jun away gently and says he can feel Seungcheol coming back and a second later Seungcheol comes back with someone next to him. He wore casual clothes, a sleeveless hoodie and running shorts and sneakers, and Minghao would have thought he was just a regular person if it weren't for the alchemist's mark on his right bicep. He smiles at them and made his way towards the bed. 

Minghao's not sure if it's instincts or just a stitch thing, but all three of them move closer to Mingyu and the alchemist stops. He raises both hands and smiles.

"I'm not gonna hurt him." He looks at them in their eyes one by one.

"He's an  _ alchemist _ ." Jun says, the slight poison in his tone puts some sort of weight on the guys shoulder but he smiles at them one by one anyways.

"Wiccans.  _ Honestly _ . Do you guys think you're above everyone else?" He asks it in a joking way but Minghao doesn't need to be a compulser to know how he might feel towards them.

He moves his eyes from Jun to Wonwoo and then he flinches when he and Minghao made eye contact.

"Woah. Are you alright?" He asks and Minghao turns to look at Wonwoo and Jun to his left who were looking at him with the same worried face and Minghao stares back at the alchemist.

"Yeah. I'm not the one who-"

"You're in a lot of pain." The alchemist cuts him off and he steps forward.

He stops and kneels in front of Minghao and Minghao was a bit struck at how he looked up close. His eyes were gentle and a deep color and his nose was sharp, perfect for his angled face. He stares up at Minghao for a few seconds and he raises a hand up and shows it to Minghao.

"I'm fine, it's just that the Wild here isn't as-" The alchemist cuts him off again. 

"I'm just gonna check, okay? Is that okay?" Minghao stares at him and then looks up at Wonwoo and Jun and they both nod. Minghao nods.

"I'm gonna have to touch the back of your neck, okay?" Minghao nods again and he prepares himself for what's about to happen. He's only been checked by an alchemist twice in his whole life and he can't say he enjoyed those experiences. 

The alchemist then closes his eyes and places his palm on the side of Minghao's neck and gently places the tip of his fingers on the middle of his nape. Minghao feels a little jolt of energy pass through his spine and back to the alchemist's fingers. The alchemist then opens his eyes and stares at Minghao his right eye still the same as his right eye glows with the mark of an alchemist. A glint of the golden star as it fades away has Minghao staring at the man's eyes.

"You're pain is from the Wild. But it's not only from the wild." The alchemist then presses his fingers more and Minghao hisses at the sharp feeling of actual electricity going through his spine.

"You're..." The alchemist then flinches and loses his hold on Minghao as he falls back to his ass. He had on this scared and kind of freaked out face as he alternates staring at Minghao, Wonwoo, and Jun. 

"Yeah. The whole stitched thing. Join the meeting later." Wonwoo says as he glares at Seungcheol. Wonwoo helps the alchemist up and he and Jun moved out of the way. 

"This is Seokmin. He's family, so please play nice." Seungcheol says and he and Wonwoo stare each other down. Minghao looks over at Jun and he just shrugs. 

"Alright. Time to talk. Come on." Jun pulls Wonwoo by the arm as he approaches Seungcheol. Suengcheol turns and heads for the door and Jun smiles at Minghao over his shoulder before pulling Wonwoo out of the room. 

The alchemist, Seokmin, does the same thing to Mingyu. He sits at the edge of the bed and holds Mingyu's head up to reach the back of his neck. Minghao remembers studying about alchemists.

They're, in a way, a cousin clan of the wiccans. If wiccans use their abilities to keep the balance of the world around them, alchemists' abilities are more on how to keep the balance of everything in the world. Alchemists, in modern terms, are like the anti virus systems on laptops and computers. They'll assess you for any defects, viruses, illnesses, and they can do something to alter it, stop it, and even diminish it.

Minghao is still not so sure how that is and Minghao is still a little bit too caught up on wiccans as it is so he can't really make time for anything else. 

Seokmin laid Mingyu's head back down and sighs. His back was still turned to Minghao and Minghao only saw his frown when he stood up and stared at Mingyu.

"What's wrong?" Minghao asks and Seokmin heaves out a deep sigh. 

"That's the thing. There's nothing." Seokmin says and Minghao felt hope in his chest. 

"Nothing wrong?" Minghao asked, hopeful, but that hope crumbled down when Seokmin turns to face him with a frown.

"No, I mean... There's nothing here. He's not here. His soul, his, uh, his consciousness? It's not here." Seokmin explains and Minghao stares at Mingyu's peaceful face then back up to Seokmin. 

"What?"

"He's okay. Physically. But... He's practically just a shell right now." Seokmin explains and Minghao feels more and more agitated. 

"What the fuck does that mean?" Minghao asks and Seokmin was nice enough to look over Minghao's frustration.

"Okay, look. Humans, or any living being, have a physical form and their astral form, right? That's the body and the soul. When people die, it's their astral form leaving their body and dispersing into the wild. You should know this." Seokmin says and Minghao's frown turns into a flat at the last part. 

"I do know this. But that's not possible. You can't separate yourself from your body at will." Minghao explains and Seokmin nods. 

"Right. Well. He doesn't have one. He's just a physical form. For some reason he's managed to remove his astral self from his physical body without having to be dead." the alchemist explains and Minghao thought for a second. He remembers something about old wiccans and thought it could be possible. 

"Or someone pulled him away." minghao adds and Seokmin looks at him with a curious face. 

"What?" Seokmin asked.

"That can happen right?" Minghao starts and Seokmin thought for a while before nodding. 

"I mean, yeah. But... That's old magic. Not necessarily dark magic but it's one of the oldest types of magic. But there haven't been dreamwalkers for thousands of years." Seokmin explains and Minghao wishes he has Wonwoo and Jun right now to help them figure this out instead of talking to that overly confident and painfully attractive Grand. 

"You know a lot about wiccans for an alchemist." Minghao says and Seokmin turned to face him. Seokmin gave him a coy smile and he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"And you know so little about alchemists for someone who's supposed to be a Grand Prime Wild." 

"I'm... I haven't been in the wiccan side of the world for most of my life." Minghao says and he tucks his hair back to his ear and Seokmin stares at his ears for a second before smiling softly at him.

"I know. I'm sorry for sort of intruding, when I checked up on you I sensed it instantly. And fae blood won't be easy to hide with a face like that." Seokmin says and Mignhao laughs softly.

"My soul is literally bonded with three other guys. Don't bother shooting your shot here, buddy." Minghao says and Seokmin laughs.

"No motive here. Just an observation." Seokmin says and Minghao nods.

"Yeah. My mother is of royal blood, so. Yeah. But shit happens, I was sent to my dad right before turning thirteen, and now here I am." Minghao explains and Seokmin turns to Mingyu again and brought his hand up to his. 

"Is it cheating to use your fae blood to be a Grand Prime Wild?" Seokmin asked as he checks Mingyu's body and Minghao gave him a pointed look.

"They used to say I'm cheating because I grew up with a wiccan and, well, I can't blame them, really. It really was kind of an advantage." Seokmin explained and Minghao eases his glare. 

"He must be nice." Minghao says. It's not usual to have wiccans taking in any one, much less an alchemist.

"He is. But you guys must've pissed him off somehow." Seokmin says and Minghao tilts his head to the side.

"We pissed him off... Wait-"

_ He's family so play nice _ .

Oh shit.

"Yeah. We're not biologically related but yeah. He's gonna be even more pissed when he finds out what I'm about to tell him." Seokmin explains and Minghao sighs. 

"Is he okay, though? Is he… hurting?" Minghao asks and Seokmin turns to him with a confused expression.

"You're supposed to be connected to each of the grand prime Wilds aren't you?" Seokmin asked and Minghao nods.

"He's a compulser." Minghao explains.

"No, he's not. He's connected to the Wild, just like you. Someone stitched him in somehow and-" 

"Yeah. So maybe that's what you're reading into him? He's not a grand Wild." Minghao cut him off and Seokmin looks at him with a frustrated look on his face like Minghao's the one not getting it.

"What's the first rule of stitching?" Seokmin asked and Minghao rolled his eyes. Great. Now he's getting wiccan lessons from an alchemist.

"Why is this relevant??"

"Humor me. come on. There are three rules of stitching and spells. The last one is that you must use your own energy, and the second is that you must always complete the cut for it to be completely stitched. What's the first one?" Seokmin asks and Minghao is kind of impressed with how well he knows this stuff.

" 'Both parties must have something of a common nature.' " Minghao recites and Seokmin nods.

"So..." Seokmin says and Minghao stares.

"So..?" Minghao asked.

"So, Mingyu can't possibly be stitched into the wild if he's not in anyway connected to it already. Or has anything connecting him to it." Seokmin explains and Minghao stares at Mingyu.

Mingyu who was the very first person to ever tried talking to him. Mingyu who still kept talking to him even when Minghao never said anything back. Mingyu who ran off when he was given the title of a compulser. Mingyu who thought hiding in the library was an original idea and actually tried running away when Minghao found him there staring at a wall.

Mingyu who's been with him every day since.

"Can it be me?" Minghao asks and Seokmin turns to him with a confused look. 

"What?"

"We're... We stitched. The two of us." Minghao says again and Seokmin gave it a thought before nodding slowly. 

"Oh. Well... that could... that's a possibility, I guess."

"So they got him because of me?"

"No, that's nonsense. If you're gonna point fingers then you can't be the only one to blame. Whatever intricate spell that was used on him took time. He must've felt it for hours."

"But he didn't... He would've..."

"Stop trying to put someone to blame. Shit happens. It's part of the job. Now you just have to figure out how to fix it."

Before Minghao could say anything back, the door disappears and Seungcheol and Jun appears in front of them. Jun stares at Minghao with this frantic look in his eyes and then his eyes shifted to Mingyu.

"Is he dead?" Jun's voice was distraught and broken as he runs up to Mingyu.

" _ No _ ! What the hell Jun! Why would you-"

"Shrouds." Seungcheol says and Minghao's whole body froze up.

"There are shrouds outside and they're here for him." Seungcheol says as he knelt down and started drawing symbols on the floor.

"I can hide the room from them but I need time. And I'm pretty sure Wonwoo can't hold them off any longer than a few minutes, too." Seungcheol says and Jun sits at the edge of the bed and places a hand on Mingyu's forehead.

"They said you can hold them back. Can you?" Seungcheol asks, turning to look Minghao in the eyes. Minghao gulps. He turns to look at Jun and Mingyu and gulped down the  _ no  _ at the back of his throat.

"Send me out." Minghao says and he can feel Seokmin's eyes on him as he walks up to Seungcheol.

"Wait, hold on. You can't hold back shrouds! They're fucking shrouds!" Seokmin pulls Minghao back with a hand on his shoulder and Minghao shakes it off.

"Shrouds are part of the wild. You know that."

"Yeah. They're part of the  _ dead _ side of the wild! You can't go out there and try to push them back! Especially not in your current condition!" Seokmin yelled.

"Seokmin. That's enough." Seungcheol says as he stands up and faces Minghao.

"They're unlike any wiccans you and I have ever seen." Seungcheol says as he stares at Minghao. Minghao stares back and nods. 

"I'm gonna give you a marker. If i had my relic it would've been easier but this will have to do. I'm going to tesser this space out to exospace the moment i send you out and that marker is the only way you'll be able to reach us. Give it to Wonwoo and I'm sure he'll be able to do the rest." Seungcheol then reaches for something in his pocket and he holds out an arrowhead. It's an arrowhead Minghao had never thought he'd see again. 

"Looks familiar? This was given to me by a fae princess decades ago. I'm rather attached to it so please tell Wonwoo to give it back as soon as he can." Seungcheol says. Minghao stares at the arrowhead and Suengcheol starts stitching the spell. He hands it to Minghao right after and Minghao pockets it as quickly as he can. Elven metal are always cold to the touch and Minghao would rather not be distracted right now. He looks over at Jun and Mingyu and Jun was already staring back.

"I'll be right back. Take care of the big baby, okay?" Minghao says and Jun smiles and nods. Minghao pretends not to notice Jun's glossed up eyes as he turns back to Seungcheol and nods. Seungcheol closes his eyes and in an instant, Minghao was standing a few paces behind Wonwoo.

Wonwoo was barely standing, his palms facing forward in a tesser sign as he has three shrouds trapped in a looped up tesser portal. Minghao shivers when he felt the shourds take notice of him and he walks up in front of Wonwoo. 

"Are you okay?"

"I'll last for a few more minutes. Are you sure about this?" 

"No. But I'm sure about us. And I won't let anything happen to any of you." Minghao then takes a deep breath and lets his body relax. 

Minghao starts with the sign of the wild.

Curling his fingers to form a circle, the tip of his thumb touching the tip of his middle finger, and holding his left hand with his palm facing down and his right facing up. 

_ The wild is eternal, longer than life itself, and outside of time. It is infinite. And you are just a way for the wild to reach the world. You are a only a convoy meant to serve the wild. _

Minghao listens for the wild, looks for the more calmer tone before locking himself onto it. He hears its scream, feels its anguish and its pain. Then he hears it, the tone of a song that reminds him of home.

He feels it first before he hears it and when he does he makes sure to focus on it as he stitches himself with the wild by uncurling his index fingers. His right finger pointing to his left to represent the past, all of which the wild has seen, felt, and lived, and his left finger pointing to the right to represent the future, to represent the wild as it grows and stays and ages. He then feels the stitching as it finishes and he unfurls his fingers and walks up to the shrouds. 

Minghao has dealt with shrouds plenty of times before. Sure.

But no amount of experience would make Minghao like them. 

The shrouds are, in a way, the guides to the afterlife. They were once grand prime Wilds when they were alive and they devote themselves to the wild even after death. Minghao has been thought that they were to be treated with high respect for they're only doing what they're doing because it's their purpose. But Minghao hates them. The very first time he's seen one is when his mother had died.

And you know what they say, first impressions last.

Ironically enough, that's how they knew his wiccan blood was a lot more prominent than they had originally thought. After losing his mom, he had to leave the rest of his family. 

Apparently, trying to fight off shrouds that no one from the court of faeries can see would warrant an immediate transfer to the wiccans. Especially since he could actually touch the shrouds. 

"Your presence here is not necessary." Minghao starts and they all stopped and stared.

_ Our presence anywhere is a sign of our necessity, wherever that may be. Step aside, brother, and we shall continue with our duty. _

"Alright, I'll rephrase myself. Your presence here is not permitted." Minghao tried to give his words as much weight as he can without making it sound like he's scared out of his mind. 

_ Permissions are below us. You know we are here because we have to be here. _

"Your guidance is not necessary here. No one's dead and no one's coming with you." Minghao tries his best to suppress the shaking of his knees and he takes a deep breath to help calm himself down. 

_ That is correct and incorrect. For we are not here to guide a soul back to the wild but a soul still needs our guidance. We are here because one needs guidance back to his own body. _

Minghao stares. They're not here to get Mingyu. They're here to get Mingyu back to his body

"How did you know?"

_ The wild knows. The wild needs him. _

"What?" Minghao asks and he feels the shrouds try to break free from Wonwoo's trap. 

"Hao?" Wonwoo calls out but Minghao ignores him for now. 

"Why does the wild need him?" Minghao demands and the shrouds turn to focus on him again as he uses the wild to make them focus on him. 

_ Time is of the essence, young changeling. We mustn't ponder about. You must come with us and help us bring him back. For if a soul wanders without a body for too long, remain unstitched to its body for more than a fifth of a day, then they will stay unstitched forever _ .

Minghao stares. Minghao can feel a chill run up his spine and he can feel the shrouds' stares weighing him down, regardless if they're all faceless shadows. Shrouds are known for their one track minds so Minghao can't say he's surprised. He turns to Wonwoo and gently held his wrists. 

"It's okay." Minghao says and Wonwoo stares at him. Mignhao nods and Wonwoo visibly gulps before breaking off the loop. Wonwoo sags to his knees and Mignhao holds him up by kneeling and letting him lean on him. Minghao wraps his arms around Wonwoo and rubs his hand on his back as he takes the arrowhead from his pocket. He feels it break his skin a bit and he flinches. 

"Wonwoo, listen. I have to come with them." Minghao starts to explain but Wonwoo shakes his head.

"No."

"It's not- We don't have a choice. They can take me to Mingyu. Mingyu's soul is lost and we need to bring him back before he ends up not being able to come back at all." Minghao says and Wonwoo just shakes his head no.

"Don't. I can- We can find him on our own. I'll take us to him myself." Wonwoo says and Minghao feels his hear reveal at how desperate he sounded. 

"I know you can, but you'll need time."

"We can just... Seungcheol! He can help me and-" Minghao pulls back and takes Wonwoo's hand in his.

"Won, we don't have time." Minghao slips the arrow head in his hand and folds his fingers around it.

"Find them." Minghao says and Wonwoo's face breaks when he understood what Minghao is trying to say.

"You promised we won't be separated again." Wonwoo says and Minghao sighs. 

"I know. And I'll keep that promise. I need to get him back. I have to do this for us." Wonwoo holds on to his shirt, clings onto it so hard while staring Minghao down.

"I have to do this." Minghao takes Wonwoo's wrist and pulls it off as gently as he could. He stands up and walks up to the shrouds. 

"Tell them we have four hours. If I'm not back in four hours then-"

"Do you really think we'll wait even five minutes without doing anything?" Wonwoo says with a frown on his face. Minghao can't help but smile.

"I'll find you. Make sure you find Mingyu and I'll find you two." Wonwoo says as he struggles to stand up.

"I know you will." Minghao says right before the shrouds cover Wonwoo from hsi line of sight and all Minghao can see are shadows curling around him. 

Shadowjumping has been the least favorite thing Minghao had to learn in being a Grand Wild. He can feel the ice cold shadows seeping in his skin and he can feel some sort of darkness hovering around him every time. And doing it with three shrouds is just a massive cherry on top.

_ You and the boy. You are stitched, correct?  _ One of the shrouds say and Minghao shivers as he feels their voice echoing inside him. 

"Yeah."

_ And the lost soul. You are stitched with him, as well. _

"That is correct." Minghao knows where this is going and he's so tired of this conversation.

_ How is that possible?  _ The shroud asks and Minghao almost laughed at the thought of a bewildered shroud. 

"What happened to 'time is of the essence'?" Talking back to an undead entity who can drag your soul to the depths of the wild and bound you to the life of earth for all eternity is probably not the smartest thing Minghao can do, but he's worried about Mingyu, he's scared out of his mind, he's extremely cold, and he's alone for the very first time since they were stitched together.

Fuck common sense.

_ Your tongue is sharp as ever, young changeling.  _ "Why do you call me such a name?"

_ You are the one with fae blood, are you not? The son of the runaway fae princess and the lone wiccan. _

Minghao shivers, and this time it's not from the cold.

Changelings are what they call a child of the fae that's been left in the care of humans in exchange for a human child. Minghao's not sure if the term is said to be as an insult or not but it doesn't sit well with him.

Minghao can't see anything but his heart weighs more and more as the seconds pass which means he's moving away from them. He's moving farther and farther away from them.

_ We have crossed paths before, young changeling. When i was sent to guide your mother to the wild _ .

Minghao stops breathing and he wraps his arms around himself. Hugging himself as he tries to clear his head.

"I was... What I said back then were words of a child. I'm sure I don't have to apologize but I am sorry for what I said and what I did."

_ You were not the first child who had the misfortune of seeing their parent be taken, but you were the first who had ever had a chance to actually stop it.  _

Minghao remembers crying. Just a lot of crying as his mother lie on her bed with a sad smile on her face as this scary looking thing walks up to her and takes her hand. Minghao sees his mother sit up and smile at the shroud as it guided her outside. Mignhao ran after them, pulling at the shroud and screaming at it to let his mother go. His mother had to talk him down as the rest of the consort watch Minghao talk to nothing. 

_ Your mother has been a lively presence in the wild. And all this time she calls out for onely one name. _

"Do not talk to me about my mother right now. I would rather not be reminded of the loved one the wild took from me when the wild has taken another from me." Minghao says and he feels the shrouds move closer to him as a particularly cold feeling weighs itself down on his shoulders

_ The wild does not take anything that is not rightfully theirs.  _

"That doesn't make it hurt any less." Minghao says back and he feels the cold weight on his shoulder lift away. 

_ Will it hurt less to know that the name your mother calls is yours? _

"What?"

_ She calls for you. Her little prince. The Wild is all the more calmer for she exudes nothing but love. Love that i believe is meant for you. _

"Why are you telling me this? why are you telling me this now? Shouldn't we focus on Mingyu and-"

_ Calm yourself, young prince. We can only hide much of your presence. _

"The Wild here is unsettling and is the most agitated i've ever felt. I can't be hold accountable for how I act."

_ You have a much deeper connection to the wild than you think, young prince. People consider it a gift to feel the wild, but you think of it as a curse. Why is that? _

"Because it hurts."

_ Pain and anguish are a meek price to pay for your service to the Wild.  _ Minghao let out a humorless laugh.

"You were human, once. I'm sure you didn't have much fun with pain and anguish.

_ True as that may be, pain is still of the most importance to wiccans, is it not?" _

"I have to say no. At least not for me. But I haven't been a wiccan for long so maybe I just don't understand."

The shrouds were quiet for a long time before they spoke up again, making Minghao flinch. 

_ Why do you think pain exist? Why is it included in the making of the world?  _ Minghao thinks maybe this is small talk for entities that are set to live out for all eternity doing the Wolf's bidding so he decided to humor them. 

"Pain reminds us that we're alive." Minghao says. Wonwoo has said this before. Minghao is not sure if it's something he's read or something he came up with himself but Minghao loved how he said it. 

_ I have been dead for over a thousand years, young changeling, and I still feel pain as i serve the wild after death. In one instance, it was you who had caused me pain.  _ The shroud explains and Minghao feels embarrassed.

"Maybe pain was a mistake. Maybe it's something ugly we made ourself after the world was made." Minghao says and he shakes when he feels the shrouds laughter in his head. 

_ Perhaps. But pain is far from a mistake, young prince, regardless of how ugly it may be. _

"Then I'd have to say I don't know." Minghao says. 

_ Let me help shed some light, then. Tell me. What is one thing that the sun, the moon, and pain, have in common? _

Minghao thinks for a while. Is it a riddle? Or is it an actual question? 

Minghao's vision then turns from black to the deep dark blue of the night sky. He looks around and sees tall trees all around him and the three shrouds floating stagnant behind him. 

"Where is he?" Minghao asks. He turns and turns and all he sees are trees and darkness for mile and miles. 

_ He is here _ .

"Where?" Minghao demanded and the shrouds were just floating there. 

_ First, answer the question. _

"I don't have time for fucking riddles! Where's Mingyu!?"

_ Think about it. The sun, the moon, and your pain. _

Minghao let's out a frustrated groan and pulls at his hair. He scours his head for some sort of answer and he takes a deep breath. 

The sun, the moon, and my pain.

The sun reminded him of Mingyu. Always there. Always bright. And ever so warm. Minghao had grown up with the faes so he had trouble trying to cope with the world. With the wiccans world or the modern world all the same. But one thing he is familiar with is love, and kindness, and a beautiful smile. Minghao is always reminded of his mom when he sees Mingyu. His soft and gentle nature and his innocence. His laugh. His hugs. His warmth. Mingyu had told him once that he hated how he thinks he's the sun. 

"The sun isn't always there. There are times when it's raining. There are times when our sun won't be there for you. And I don't want that. I want to always be there for you, Hao. Even if you find me annoying."

Our sun, the moon, and my pain. 

Grand Illustrator Moon had been Minghao's idea. He and Jun goes by lots of names because of where they are from. But when Minghao hears  _ Moon Junior  _ he can't help but think that it fits him well. Wonwoo even teases him and calls him our moon and Jun pretend to not like it. The moon ever so bright and ever so elegant in the night sky. His mother once told him a story about the moon who gets its power from the sun. But instead of using it for personal stuff, the moon uses it to bring light to the dark. The same way Jun had always guided him out of his dark days not by distracting him from the dark, but letting him show that there is beauty in sadness. 

"Sometimes we think that we should never let ourselves feel down and I think that's wrong. Sadness isn't bad, just a dark emotion. And sometimes you just need someone to cry with to make the darkness feel lighter on your shoulders. Don't you think so?"

Our sun, our moon, and my pain. 

Minghao knows it's not fair, but he always head right for Wonwoo whenever his missions goes a bit sideways. It's not favoritism, really, but he handles it better than the other two. Jun would be too busy scolding him as he patches him up that Minghao can't even explain what happens and Mingyu always looks like he's in more pain than Minghao. But Wonwoo always just handles it calmly. He's patch Minghao up and asks him what happened as he does so and he'd make Minghao tea afterwards. Minghao knows he hates tea but he says he has them for special guests. 

"You should be more careful, Hao. They're gonna see that tomorrow and freak out. When I said pain makes us human I didn't mean you should bet yourself beat up as much as possible. Your pain is our pain, okay? I don't care if people think you're different, you're more human than they think they are. And I hope you know that."

Our sun, our moon, and our pain. 

They're always there. That's one thing. They're something that will always be there no matter who's looking or not. They've always been there and they always will be. They're not something you can stop and they're definitely not something you can hide… 

"Truths." Minghao says. And just then Minghao feels a cool breeze whirl around his feet. 

_ They're truths that cannot long be hidden. _

"How does that answer anything?!" Minghao was running out of patience and he feels tears threatening to fall from his eyes as he stomps closer to the shrouds. 

_ You have a deeper connection to the wild for you can manipulate the truth. And to manipulate the truth is to know the truth.  _

"What?" Minghao understood what he meant. He knew it had to mean  _ that _ but he just can't… he's can't be. 

_ The pain you feel is the truth. The truth that the wild has carried for eons and will carry for eons more. Some can feel it's pain but only a select few shares the Wild's truth. And out of those select few, is you. _

"Are you implying that I'm..."

_ It's time to release your hold of your reality, changeling. Find the truth that is hidden here then you will find he who is lost. _

Oh.

Minghao sat cross legged on the ground and closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath and remembers Jun's words. The tips of you index fingers touching each other as well as your pinkies, fold the middle and the ring fingers, and fold the thumb over them. 

Then he hears Jim's voice ringing in his head. 

_ The sign for illusion is basically a pentagram. The five corners represents the five senses that we use to perceive reality. _

Minghao takes another deep breath and closes his eyes. 

_ The main concept for illusions is that you have to know focus on the reality. That's gonna be your anchor in making illusions. Your hold on the reality is gonna be the basis of how effective your illusions are. But you have to find your own anchor. An anchor that will pull you back no matter what.  _

Minghao focuses on Jun's words in his head and holds his breath. 

_ That's gonna be your anchor... An anchor that will pull you back no matter what. _

Empty your mind and focus on reality.

_ Our sun, our moon, our pain.  _

Minghao feels the wind on the back of his neck turned warm.

_ Minghao focuses on Jun's comforting hand rubbing his back. The feeling of it dragging through his skin whenever he dreams of the wild. _

The wind smells like lavender and cinnamon mixing in with the smell of the deep forest.

_ The memory of Wonwoo's hoodie engulfing him and smelling like sandalwood and coffee and the mints he always has in his pockets. _

He hears the familiar crackle of a bonfire and a familiar voice saying his name.

_ Echoes of Mingyu's loud laughter ringing in his head, the way he'd throw his head back and let his happiness out without a care. _

He opens his eyes and he squints when the light from the open fire blinds him temporarily and he hides his eyes behind his arm as someone walks up to him.

He thinks of reality and he thinks of them. 

"Wait, how are you here?"

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh heh  
Are y'all liking it so far? 
> 
> I hope you understand their powers enough because IDK if I'm projecting and explaining enough in the story or I just THINK it's being explained since I know they're powers already snsksjsk
> 
> Please tell me what you think in the comments and ask me anything too!


	3. Wonwoo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo hasn't done anything but watch as everything he tries to protect has been taken from him one by one. And now he finds out that the only thing he could do to save them was to do the last thing he had ever wanted to do. But Wonwoo thinks it's worth it. 
> 
> They'll always be worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comeback week had me busy so I haven't updated till now UnU
> 
> BUT HERE I AM   
(*´∇｀*)
> 
> I hope you love this chapter   
٩(●˙—˙●)۶

Wonwoo watches as the shrouds move around Minghao and vanish into thin air. He was left there, on his knees and barely able to lift himself up, as Minghao braves one last smile. All of them knew how much he hated shrouds, how much he fears them. And here Wonwoo is now, letting him be taken by them willingly all because he isn't strong enough. 

Wonwoo holds his palm up and the arrowhead glints in the light from the hallway. Seungcheol's efforts to keep Mingyu safe and away from the shrouds were all in vain because they were never here for Mingyu in the first place. He closes his eyes and placed his other hand on top and brings his hands closer to his chest. He conjures up the mark on the arrow and pinpoints it instantly. He then opens his hands without breaking apart his thumbs and index fingers and the arrowhead levitates in front of his palms as he holds the tesser sign for a few more seconds. The arrowhead glows and started spinning and when Wonwoo feels the opening Seungcheol left for them he locks in on it and claps his palms close again, trapping the arrowhead in his hands.

When he opens his eyes he sees Jun holding onto Mingyu on the bed as Seungcheol and the alchemist stands at the foot of the bed. All eyes were on him and he feels his hear break when Jun looks over his shoulders and doesn't see what he's looking for.

"The shrouds weren't after Mingyu." Wonwoo says and Seungcheol runs up to him just as he falls forward and he hears Jun scream out his name right as everything turns black. 

  
  


Wonwoo opens his eyes and he's back in the hallway with Jun as Seungcheol paces in front of them. 

"Stitching four people. Four. Who the fuck does that. Who the fuck is allowed to do that."

"Do you think he'll let us explain eventually or he'll end up imploding after a few more minutes of doing that." Jun asks and Wonwoo stares at Seungcheol's frown and knitted eyebrows.

"I'm not really up to explaining anything to him so hopefully the second one." Wonwoo says back and Jun snorts.

"This isn't official. That's it. Your bond must be just two pairs that are linked." Seungcheol says, turning to the two of them and Wonwoo rolls his eyes and pulls down the collar of his shirt to show off the three marks tattooed on his chest. 

"What the fuck?" Seungcheol breathes out as he stares and Wonwoo rolls his eyes and lets go of his shirt.

"It's not unheard of." Wonwoo offers and Seungcheol glares at him.

"Well, it's not common either. The last I heard of a bond that goes beyond a pair were Grand Primes." Seungcheol says and Wonwoo groans.

"Exactly. Mingyu thought that the Grand Primes were bonded because… because they each hold a different cardinal craft. So since we four have different crafts,"

"Mingyu brought it up to us and then brought it up to Jeonghan. And here we are." Jun says, cutting Wonwoo off since he probably knew that Wonwoo was about to go on for far longer than he should.

"That's..." Seungcheol says and trails off. Looking at them with something in the middle of fear or complete and utter shock from amazement.

"Yeah. We get that a lot." Jun says and Wonwoo smiles

"Okay. Okay, help me wrap my head around this." Seungcheol starts again and Wonwoo groans even louder, earning another heavy glare from Seungcheol.

"Look. Can we, like, talk about this after we figure out what's wrong with Mingyu? He literally just said a Grand Prime was trying to take over his body." Wonwoo says, not bothering to hide his irritation.

"What you did wasn't just something minor. Why can't you four see that? You can't have three other wiccans bonded with you!" Seungcheol says, Wonwoo's not sure why this one topic is frustrating him so much and Wonwoo's not in the  _ understanding _ mood.

"The constitution of the primes said nothing about numbers." Jun offers and Seungcheol stares.

"It said a lot about the process. Process you do in pairs." Seungcheol says and Wonwoo's sure even Jun's patience is about to run out.

"A process that all four of us did three times over." Wonwoo says and Seungcheol sighs. Again.

"Guys." Jun

"And Jeonghan just let you?" Seungcheol asks and Wonwoo has half a mind to tesser them all back to Jeonghan's room so he can talk to Seungcheol about this.

"We already said he was the one overseeing the entanglement! What's so hard to understand about that?!" Wonwoo says, practically screaming now.

" _ Guys!" _ Jun screamed. He then kneels down and started a spell and a moment later, the door behind them was gone. 

In front of them were shrouds, guides of the souls back to the wild. Three of them. Wonwoo has no problem with shrouds. They're a little creepy and the whole talking by speaking to your soul directly is still something that shakes Wonwoo. But other than that, they're not necessarily that frightening. 

What's frightening was the fact that they're here. And why they're here.

"Mingyu." Wonwoo says and Jun turns to him with a horrified look on his face.

"No." 

"Seungcheol, get him inside and put everyone in exospace." Wonwoo says and he steps forward. He clapped his hand in front of his chest and held out his palm, doing the tesser sign, and traps the shourds in a tesser loop. Three purple lines emerges from the floor, forming a triangle on the ground around the shrouds, and each line projected up and turns into a tesser door. 

"I can't perfectly tesser to exospace myself so you have to do it. Shrouds can't reach the exospace." Wonwoo says and he can see Seungcheol stare at the shrouds.

"What about you?" Seungcheol asks and Wonwoo smiles

"Come back for me when they're safe. Prove to me that you're really the tesser I looked up to." Wonwoo says and Seungcheol has on this pained look on his face and Wonwoo almost laughs. 

"Minghao. Can't he help hold them back?" Seungcheol asks and Wonwoo turns to face forward. He stares at the shrouds and he remembers Minghao. He remembers how small he looked, talking about them. About how they're the reason he's where he is now. 

"He can. We just need to hold them back till you get to exospace." Wonwoo says and Jun step closer to him.

"Go. Keep them safe." Jun stops. He stares at Wonwoo and nods. Seungcheol takes Juns hand and gave Wonwoo one last look before they vanish.

And just like that Jun and Seungcheol were gone.

_ Child. We are here to guide. _

"Yeah, yeah. Your services aren't as wanted as you may think." Wonwoo says and he feels the familiar chill he gets whenever shrouds talk to him.

_ A higher power is at play here. We do not have time for such tricks. _

"Yeah? Well why don't you try walking out of that trick?"

Wonwoo smiles as one of the shrouds walks forward and disappears only to show up from another portal. 

His smile falters, though, when the shrouds kept going through the portals over and over, draining Wonwoo of his energy every half a second. He can barely stand when he feels Minghao appear behind him. 

"Are you okay?" Minghao asks as he walks up in front of Wonwoo. 

"I'll last for a few more minutes. Are you sure about this?" Wonwoo says and Minghao turns to face the shrouds.

"No. But I'm sure about us. And I won't let anything happen to any of you." Wonwoo can't help but smile at Minghao's words as he turns his back to him and faces the shrouds. Minghao then takes a deep breath and Wonwoo watches as the air around him start moving.

Mignhao takes a few seconds and then the air stills around them.

"Your presence here is not necessary." Minghao says, his voice was a different weight, carrying the power of the wild in him as he spoke. A few seconds pass and Mignhao lets out an annoyed huff.

"Alright, I'll rephrase myself. Your presence here is not permitted." The shrouds are talking to him only and Wonwoo tries to focus on the spell he has as Mignhao talks with the shrouds.

"Your guidance is not necessary here. No one's dead and no one's coming with you." Minghao says with a louder voice and the shrouds stopped moving. a few seconds pass and Minghao tenses up.

"How did you know?" Minghao ask and the shrouds moved as close as they can to the front of the spell.

"What?" Minghao says, his voice much less restrained now and Wonwoo was starting to worry.

"Hao?" He calls out but Minghao didn't hear him. if he did, he didn't show any signs that he did.

"Why does the wild need him?" Minghao yells and Wonwoo falls to his knees. He has to keep the spell up as long as Seungcheol still hasn't got them away from here.

Minghao then breaks his connection to the wild and turns to him. 

"It's okay." Minghao says and Wonwoo stares at him. Mignhao nods and Wonwoo gulps before breaking off the loop. Wonwoo blacks out for a second and he feels Minghao's arms catch him as he falls forward. One hand going around his back.

"Wonwoo, listen. I have to come with them." Minghao says and Wonwoo's head snapped up.

" _ No _ ." Wonwoo says immediately and Minghao had on this sad and painful look on his face as he stares at Wonwoo.

"It's not- We don't have a choice. They can take me to Mingyu. Mingyu's soul is lost and we need to bring him back before he ends up not being able to come back at all."

"Don't. I can- We can find him on our own. I'll take us to him myself." Wonwoo offers, he can't just let Minghao go with them like this.

"I know you can, but you'll need time." Minghao says, calmly. Wonwoo tries to think of other ways, other alternatives. Anything. Just not this.

"We can just... Seungcheol! He can help me and-" Minghao pulls back and takes Wonwoo's hand in his.

"Won, we don't have time." Minghao slips something cold and sharp in his hand and folds his fingers around it.

"Find them." Minghao says and Wonwoo realizes what he's trying to do. What he wants Wonwoo to do.

"You promised we won't be separated again." Wonwoo says weakly and he can feel Minghao's sudden wave of sadness wash over him and Wonwoo stares as Minghao takes his face in his hands.

"I know. And I'll keep that promise. I need to get him back. I have to do this for us." Minghao says and Wonwoo holds Mignhao's shirt in a vice grip as he tries to move away. 

"I have to do this." Minghao says. He takes Wonwoo's hand in his and pulled it off. He stands up and walks up to the shrouds. 

"Tell them we have four hours. If I'm not back in four hours then-" Minghao says and Wonwoo frowns.

"Do you really think we'll wait even five minutes without doing anything?" Wonwoo says , cutting him off. Minghao smiles at him as the shrouds start to move around him and Wonwoo can't do anything but watch.

"I'll find you. Make sure you find Mingyu and I'll find you two." Wonwoo says. He tries to stand up as the shrouds move in closer and closer to Minghao and he sees Minghao's smile.

"I know you will." Minghao says just as the shrouds cover him with a veil of shadows and they all disappear into nothing. 

  
  
  


Wonwoo sits up abruptly and his head throbs.

He blinks his eyes rapidly and waits for his eyes to adjust as much as it can and he sees someone walk up to him and wrapped him in a hug. Jun's familiar scent washes over him and he calms down. He goes and wraps his arms around Jun and he flinches when something sharp cuts his palm.

"Yeah, give it. You wouldn't let go of the damn thing." Jun says as he pulls back and takes Wonwoo's left hand in his. Jun hands him his glasses and Wonwoo watches as Jun unstitched an immobilization spell on his hand. The spell pulls away and Wonwoo flinches as he unravels his fingers. 

Drops of his own blood drip down to his wrist and onto the blanket pooling around his waist as the arrow head in his palm glints under the light. Half of it now a shade of deep scarlet red as it seeps in Wonwoo's blood. Jun carefully lifts it and Wonwoo stops him and wraps his fingers around it again. Now holding it tighter, letting it sink deeper in his palm as blood drips onto the sheets even more.

"Wonwoo."

"How long was I out?" Wonwoo asks.

"A couple of hours? Seungcheol left and went to inform Jeonghan about everything. What happened? And where's-" Wonwoo throws the covers off of his feet and he jumps out of bed.

"We have to go. We have to find them." Wonwoo says and he stops when he sees Mingyu's body. He looks like he's just sleeping, like he wasn't miles and miles away from them.

"Wonwoo you have to talk to me." Jun says but Wonwoo doesn't have time to explain.

"They weren't here for Mingyu, they were here for Minghao. They knew what happened to Mingyu and they took Minghao with them."

"They took him?" Jun's voice breaks and Wonwoo started to look for his shoes.

"He went with them. Shadow jumped. They can't take me even if I tried to go after them." Wonwoo says as he grabs for his shoes and started looking for his jacket only for his sight to go completely black.

" _ That wasn't what I was implying and you know that _ ." Jun's voice rings behind him and he turns blindly. He keeps blinking his eyes, trying to shake off Jun's illusion but he can't.

"Give me back my sight, Junhui. This isn't the time!" Wonwoo yells and he tries to shake the illusion off again. 

"You have to slow down and-"

"I can't slow down! Mingyu is somewhere out there with god knows what and Minghao is with three shrouds shadow travellign.  _ Three shrouds!" _ Wonwoo lets out and he feels a hand at the side of his neck.

"Mingyu is alive and Minghao will be fine. They're a lot more stronger than you think."

"But-" Wonwoo's sight comes back and he blinks as his eyes adjusts and he sees Jun standing in front of him with his jacket.

"Do you have a plan?" Jun asked. His palm was still a comforting weight on Wonwoo's neck and Wonwoo takes a deep breath.

"What?" Wonwoo asks and Jun smiled.

"Well? You're moving like a madman so I'm assuming you have a plan." Jun said and Wonwoo nods.

"Find them. We find them and bring them back." Wonwoo says and Jun smiles wider.

"That sounds like a Mingyu plan." Jun says and Wonwoo can't help but smile. 

"We have four hours. Minghao says we have four hours right before he left so that leaves us with just two more hours. I have to find them before we run out of time." Wonwoo explains and Jun nods. 

"We've already had our talk about this  _ I  _ bullshit of yours. You know, for someone who's linked to three other souls, you sure love doing things on your own." Jun says and Wonwoo sighs. Jun lifts his chin up, kisses him, and smiles.

"You patch up your hand and I'll try every locator spell I know." Jun says and Wonwoo nods. Jun wraps his arms around Wonwoo's shoulders and Wonwooo takes a deep breath.

"We'll find them. You're the greatest tesser I know. If anyone can get us to them, it's you." Jun says and Wonwoo wraps his arms around Jun's waist. Jun pushes back and leans in and gave Wonwoo a quick kiss. Wonwoo takes another deep breath and he pulls Jun for another squeeze before letting go and the two of them start with their spells.

  
  


An hour later and Wonwoo tessers back to the room and Jun looks up to him a hopeful smile that turns into a sad one when he sees that Wonwoo's still alone. He then swats the tracking spell he has in front of him and Wonwoo flops down on the floor next to him and he tries to conjure up enough energy to go for another tesser.

"Tracking spells won't work accurately since they're connected to the wild. I've tried everything. Salt water, blood stitching, astral tracking. There's one way but it's rather... unconventional." Jun sasy, closing the book he was holding with the word  _ 'engkanto' _ on it.

"Unconventional?" Wonwoo asks.

"I took a look at their local manual and, well... What do you feel about conjuring a local creature of the wild? They call them  _ engkanto _ but they're old creatures of the wild. And this one, a type of ogre called a  _ kapre _ , very great trackers and very accurate. Downside though is we'd need to give him our first born child as payment. They won't eat the child but it's more like they'll adopt them. Reverse changelings, I guess."

"I'm gonna stop you right there. There's a lot of red flags in all of what you just said, and "our first born child" is surprisingly the least alarming phrase." Wonwoo says and Jun turns to smile at him. 

"We could be great fathers." Jun says and Wonwoo snorts.

"Sure, none of us can give birth, though." Wonwoo says and Jun shrugs.

"Didn't stop you from trying the other night." Jun said and Wonwoo smiles at Jun's crude attempt of lightening the mood. 

"Look, it's a great fifth option so how about we focus on looking for the first four for now." Wonwoo says and Jun conjures up his  _ grimiore _ and he flips through the pages.

Wonwoo closes his eyes and tries to absorb as much energy as he can while Jun thinks of another way to track them that hopefully won't include sacrificing anyone. He opens himself to the wild and calms himself as he absorbs as much as he can slowly and his mind drifts towards Minghao and Mingyu.

He remembers the first time he has seen the two, both an outcast in their own way and always alone together. Word would always get around the first institute fast and it was even faster when it's about a wiccan with fae blood and the very first compulser of their generation. Everyone steered clear of them but Wonwoo and Jun had always found themselves crossing paths with the two. Until Wonwoo had enough of their polite and distant smiles and finally introduced themselves to each other. He remembers Mingyu's caution at touching them because he was still wary of his abilities and he can't really have anyone to tell him how to. He had been clumsy, loud, bright. He reminds Wonwoo of the cosmic bears that appears in the institute every winter solstice. Gentle giants that were pure energy, pure bright light. And it fits him perfectly well given that the bears had loved him that time.

And if Mingyu is a cosmic bear then Minghao would have to be a frost phoenix. Graceful, elegant, but also extremely cautious. Frost phoenix are exactly like what their name says. They're cold to the touch when they feel threatened and it's been known to be so cold that your fingers would freeze instantly and the frost would run up to your arm unless it's severed as soon as possible. But frost phoenix would turn almost as warm as a regular phoenix at will. They've been known to help travellers who are caught in a blizzard and they would shield you with their bodies until the storm passes. Minghao is exactly the same. Graceful, elegant, but extremely dangerous if threatened.

Wonwoo remembers someone pulling a prank on Mingyu which had caused Mingyu to lose control and ended up being laughed at by everyone in the hall. Minghao stares at the two for a minute and he pulls Mingyu away and then they headed straight for Jeonghan's office. The following morning, Wonwoo and the rest of the institute woke up to the same two wiccans crying for help outside the courtyard. They were both strung up with vines along the gates, half naked, with a bunch of pixies flying around them.

Imagine a dozen of five inched people with blue skin and leaf like wings, stinging the two with their kisses as pixie skin were very poisonous to humans. Wonwoo looks around and sees Minghao smiling as Jeonghan asks the grand wild of the institute to bring them down. The pixies then flies away and heads for Minghao, swirling around him and playing with his hair. Minghao giggles as they touch him and to this day Wonwoo's still not sure if that was the scariest or the most amazing thing he's ever seen. Later that night he read more about the fae folk and found out that the elven's skin are not as susceptible to pixie poison since their blood is-

Wonwoo scrambles up the floor and heads for the table and starts looking for it.

"Woah. Slow down. What's up? What are you looking for?" Jun asks and Wonwoo smiles as he picks it up and faces Jun.

"This." Wonwoo holds up the arrowhead and hands it to Jun.

"Check for Minghao's blood." Wonwoo says and Jun's brows furrowed in confusion. 

"What?"

"Fae metal. This is from an elven arrow and they're known to be really cold and really sharp. They also absorb a lot of liquid and fae folk used to pour poison on them so they'd absorb it and it'll turn the arrowhead poisonous."

"Okay? And how is that-"

"Minghao's blood! He would've been cut by it somehow. Hopefully." Wonwoo says and he grabs the arrowhead from Jun and places it on his right hand. He then hovers his left hand over it and starts the separation spell. He focuses on his blood and watches as the arrowhead glows and his blood starts dripping out of it. a few seconds later and the arrow stops glowing and falls back to his palm. Wonwoo takes away his left hand and smiles. He holds up the arrowhead to Jun and smiles as a line of deep purple taints the tip of the metal.

"How many half wiccan and half fae person are there in the entire world?" Wonwoo asks and he can see Jun's face when he finally got what Wonwoo was trying to say.

"Wonwoo you're a  _ genius _ !" Jun grabs for the arrowhead and heads back to the floor. 

Jun kneels and sets the arrowhead on the floor in front of him. He then places his hands on the floor on either side of the arrowhead and starts stitching a tracking spell. Wonwoo kneels in front of him and watches. Jun then starts and lifts his hands up to chest level and the arrow head levitates in between his hands. Jun faces his palms in around the arrowhead and pulls them apart. A holographic globe glows in front of them and the arrowhead spins inside the globe. Jun closes his eyes to focus and Wonwoo decides to help. He places his hands on top of Jun's and focuses his energy to flow through Jun. Jun takes a deep breath and then arrowhead stops spinning. It flies out of the globe and now it flies around it like a plane. It turns and flies and flies and... and it doesn't stop.

A few minutes later and Jun breaks off the spell. 

Jun pulls his hands away and held onto Wonwoo's hands instead. 

"What are you doing?" Wonwoo asks and Jun looks up to him with a soft smile.

"It's okay. It's okay we can think of another way to-" Jun says and Wonwoo pulls his hands away.

"No, come on. We can wait it out. Maybe they're just under a safeguard spell or something. Camouflage spells always mess with tracking spells, right?" Wonwoo says and Jun grabs his hands. Wonwoo can see the look in his eyes and he knows what Jun's gonna say. He pulls his hands away and grabs for the arrowhead on the floor and stands up. 

"We can find them,  _ okay! _ We can find them and... and then i can go and-" Wonwoo flinches when the arrowhead cuts his skin again and it's like everything he's trying to hold back breaks down. His throat clenches and his heart starts pounding hard.

He turns to Mingyu on the bed and he falls to his knees.

Then he breaks down and cries. 

Wonwoo's never felt like this. Never felt so far from solving anything in his life. He's never felt so lost and confused and absolutely helpless. He's always been the first to solve things, the first to move, the first to figure things out. And now, for the first time, he can't do shit to help the most important people in his life. 

Jun's hand grips his shoulder and Wonwoo just kept crying. He grips onto Mingyu's hand and he feels even worse when he didn't squeeze back. He doesn't try to hold back his tears anymore and he just cries and cries and cries. And all of a sudden the arrowhead in his palm started to feel warm. Wonwoo's initial thought was that it's absorbed enough of Wonwoo's blood that it started to feel warm but it just gets warmer and warmer until it starts feeling hot. Almost too hot to touch. He stands up and opens his palm and the arrowhead started glowing. 

Wonwoo and Jun watched as the blood on Wonwoo's palm revolve around the arrowhead as it starts to glow a deep shade of purple and then started to absorb the blood. Wonwoo's not sure what's happening but he feels for a spell around the arrowhead and he can feel something forming around it. A spell stitching itself onto the arrowhead as if turning it into a marker. Wonwoo then takes over the stitching and redirects it. He hears a voice in his head, like someone calling him, like someone's voice over a million others. 

_ "One can always fear the answers, but one can never avoid them." _

Wonwoo's own words were being spoken to him by someone else and his stiching falters.

" _ Tell me child. How long have you been trying to avoid the answer you've been fearing. How long have you tried to keep yourself from trying?" _

Wonwoo ignores it and keeps on with the stitching. He focuses on Minghao. Their Minghao. 

_ Trying to control your emotions had only left you being controlled by them. Learn from my mistakes and use your gifts.  _

Wonwoo falters again but this time Jun's hands go over his and he opens his eyes and sees him smiling at him. Wonwoo's surprise at Jun's intricate stitching with tesser was overshadowed by the voice in his head.

_ You're not alone anymore, child. A secret is only a burden unless it's shared with others. Show him who you are. _

Wonwoo shakes the voice out of his head and he focuses on the stitching. He notices Jun almost taking over now and wonders how Jun could handle making this kind of marker.

Then it hit him. 

"It's okay." Jun says and Wonwoo nods.

  
  


Wonwoo recalls every books and grimoires he's ever read about compulsion and tries to apply them now. 

Wonwoo held onto Juns hands and looked right into his eyes. Wonwoo did half of the tesser sign in his left hand as Jun completed it with his right and he did the compulsion sign with his right and Jun matched it with his left hand. He focuses on channeling his energy to his right hand as he feels Jun's energy flowing through his left. 

He focuses on the marker and he focuses on Minghao and Mingyu. He lets his memories fuel the stitching and he lets the emotions seep through every stitch of the spell. The arrowhead now started glowing purple with a hint of white at the center and Jun smiles at him.

"Keep going." Jun says and Wonwoo did. He focuses on memories of the four of them. Together. All the good and all of the bad. From the very first time they met, to the very first time they've spoken. The very first laugh they shared and the very first time they took a breath after their entanglement. He pours each and every one of those memories onto the spell as Jun keeps stitching the marker spell. Wonwoo feels lighter and clearer as the spell goes on and a moment pass and he feels the end of the spell.

_ Well done, my children. Now, come and join us. _

The voice says right as the spell finishes and Wonwoo had to cover his eyes as the arrowhead started shining brighter and brighter and brighter and then it stops.

Wonwoo slowly opens his eyes and sees the arrowhead floating in front of them. The metal slowly melts into a blob of scarlet metal and then started to reform. It starts by removing the red and purple metal from the rest as the silver starts to form a disk. It started to take shape more and more with the entire incantation shown on the surface and the red and purple metal turn into an arrow with it's deep mauve color. The two pieces then combines and the silver plate caves in as the arrow floats in the middle of the plate. Wonwoo can relate it to looking like a compass but he's pretty sure this one won't just point north. 

The compass then floats around Wonwoo's hand and situates itself on Wonwoo's left wrist. It then starts to shrink to an inch in diameter as the silver melts around again and this time forming around Wonwoo's wrist. Wonwoo stares as the compass glows on his wrist and looks up at Jun to check if he's the only one seeing it. 

"You made a relic." Seungcheol's voice says behind Jun and Wonwoo sees him and Jeonghan staring at the two of them with unreadable faces. Jeonghan then snaps out of it and heads straight for Mingyu.

"Update me on everything." Jeonghan says and Wonwoo starts.

"Someone took Mingyu's soul from his body and Minghao has gone after him when the shrouds came and offered to take him where Mingyu was. Jun and I have been trying to track them and we ended up with this." Wonwoo says, lifting his hand up and Jeonghan took his hand and inspects it.

"I have always told you that you were all meant for great things. But I have never thought that it would be to this extent." Jeonghan says and he taps on the compass. The red arrow then flies up to Wonwoo's palm and melts on to his skin, seeping inside him. Wonwoo panics for a second until he sees a mental image of a forest. It was out of time and out of this dimension but it wasn't the same as exospace. He then closes his eyes and tries to feel for Minghao's energy, his aura and he feels him. He feels his agitation and his worry as Wonwoo holds onto his energy and Wonwoo comes back to his body and he stares as the red metal comes back up to his palm and slithers back to the compass.

"I've got it. I know where they are."

"You've made a relic. The two of you. You see, relics are made by two Grand wiccans stitching their craft to one object with high magical properties." Jeonghan explains.

"And fae metal with blood from a wiccan and that of the elven folk. That's bound to have very high magical properties." Seungcheol adds and Jeonghan gave him a pointed look.

"More so, you two have done well." Jeonghan says, smiling up at the two of them.

"You don't seem as surprised as you're supposed to be." Wonwoo says and Jeonghan shrugs. 

"An old friend of mine had told me to be prepared, so I guess that's why." Jeonghan said, looking down at mingyu as he brushes his hair out of his face.

"You're not going to reassign us yet, are you?" Wonwoo asks and Jun turns to look at him.

"Focus on finding Minghao and Mingyu first. You two can tesser by yourselves so leave Mingyu hear with us and I'll do my best to give you more time." Jeonghan said and Jun gasps.

"You knew?" Jun asks and Jeonghan smiled up at him.

"You're not the first wiccan I've dealt with who's been practicing all night by himself just so he'll be a tesser." Jeonghan says and Wonwoo and Jun turns to see Seungcheol blushing.

"That was hundreds of years ago, let it go." Seungcheol says and Jeonghan laughs.

"Go. We'll all talk properly once you're back. But go quickly. Mingyu's body is starting to remove the stitch of his soul." Jeonghan says and he places his hand on Mignyu's chest and closes his eyes.

"Remember everything i've taught you. Remember your history." Jeonghan says and Wonwoo nods. He takes Jun's hands and focuses. He focuses on Minghao and Mingyu and he focuses on their auras. He taps on the middle of the compass again and this time the red arrow spins and spins and spins and Wonwoo feels the beginning of a tesser fold around them. So the compass acts as a locator and a marker. Wonwoo focuses on Minghao once again and they tesser out of the room and they end up in the middle of a forest. 

One skill of a tesser is to immediately feel the flow of time and the specific space they're inhibiting. And Wonwoo can feel that this is not a place he knows of. 

The flow of time is different. Wonwoo can almost feel it weighing him down and he can see Jun feel it too.

"We're in a void space." Jun explains. Void spaces are pocket dimensions created my tessers. It's convenient for escaping and meeting up secretly, so Wonwoo wonders why Mingyu would be taken here.

"Yeah." Wonwoo says.

"No wonder my tracker spells weren't working. They were outside of time." Jun said and he started walking ahead.

"Yeah." Wonwoo says again. He glances at Jun and sees him already looking at him. 

"Don't. If you couldn't have thought of it then I'm sure none of us could." Jun says and Wonwoo sighs.

"I don't want to say you sound patronizing but you kinda do." Wonwoo says and and Jun smiles.

"I say it as i see it. Wouldn't hurt to take a compliment once in a while." Jun says and Wonwoo kept walking.

"Sorry." Wonwoo says and Jun nudges his shoulder with his. 

"So... reassigning?" Jun asks and Wonwoo's steps falter.

"Grand wiccans are always reassigned somewhere as soon as they're certified. You know that." Wonwoo says and he tries to focus in front of him so he won't have to see Jun and how he's looking at him.

"Is that... is that why you never liked our whole training session?" Jun asked and Wonwoo tenses. 

"I didn't hate them." Wonwoo says and Jun slaps the back of his neck.

"Never said you did. I said you didn't like them." Jun says and Wonwoo groans.

"Why would I like teaching shit to you three. None of you listen to me." Wonwoo starts to walk around and he can hear Jun following.

"Wonwoo." Jun says from behind him and Wonwoo takes a deep breath.

"Look, I don't want to  _ actively _ be a part of the reason why i have to be separated from you, okay? From any of you." Wonwoo saysand Jun stops

"So grand tesser Jeon has distance issues?" Jun teases and Wonwoo turns to give him a glare only to see Jun smiling.

"Do not  _ joke _ about that right now." Wownoo says but Jun just kept smiling.

"Wonwoo you can literally see me everyday even if I decided to stay in the Philippines." Jun says and Wonwoo groans.

"That's not the point." Wonwoo argues and Jun catches up to him and he takes Wownoo's hand in his, intertwining their fingers.

"Your point is you'd rather have us near, and you'd rather have us together. Yeah _ , I know _ ." Jun said. Wonwoo just nods and he and Jun keep walking.

"So... tessering." Wonwoo say and Jun turns to him.

"Yeah."

"Didn't think you'd pick that over the rest." Wonwoo says and Jun shrugs.

"You're always the most drained whenever we go out and I thought it'd be nice to help carry some of that with you." Wonwoo squeezes Jun's hand and Jun smiles.

"And I don't know if you realize it but you were... compulsion felt different with you." Jun says and Wonwoo turns to stare.

"What?"

"Whenever I felt Mingyu in our spells or stuff like stitching, he felt warm. But yours was sort of cool. Like, you know what it feels like when you open the fridge and your feet get cold from the air coming out?" Jun asks and Wonwoo stops walking.

"Did you just... Did you just  _ compare my compulsion to a fridge?" _ Wonwoo asks and Jun laughs.

"That's not the point!" Jun defends and Wonwoo tries to wiggle his hand out of Jun's grasp

"Sure, Jun." Wonwoo says and kept laughing.

"Wonwoo! I meant-" Jun stops and he pulls Wonwoo's hand and reels him behind him.

Wonwoo stares as Jun's face turns serious as he scans in front of them and Wonwoo looks over his shoulder and sees just more trees and more darkness.

"There's something here." Jun says. He moves in front of Wownoo and did the Illustrator sign. Wonwoo watches as Jun stood still for a few seconds and then suddenly Jun goes down to his knees and reaches for something on the floor. He stands up and pulls it up and it's like a veil opened up to Jun's touch. The dark forest in front of them was split in half and there was a line of light in the middle. Jun reaches for it and pulled it aside like it was just a mere curtain. Wonwoo lets his eyes adjust to the light and he hears the cracking of burning wood before he sees the bonfire in the middle of an open field. He sees a few figures around the fire and Jun held out his hand to Wonwoo. Wonwoo took Jun's hand and they walked through the veil at the same time. 

Wonwoo felt a draft, some sort of warm wind flowing through them and Jun tugs at his hand as he walks forward. Wonwoo looks around and he sees that the place looks like the open field from earlier. but the trees here are taller and much more... alive, in a way. Wonwoo sees two of the four figures around the fire turn towards them and Wonwoo didn't have to properly see to know who they were. They both stood up and started running down the field and Wonwoo can't help the laugh that left his mouth as Jun pulls him along as he started running as well. 

Wonwoo let go of Jun as Jun was lifted up in a hug and Wonwoo felt himself tear up as he wraps his arms around the youngest. 

"I found him." Minghao says and Wonwoo nods.

"You did." Wonwoo says and he wraps his left arm around Minghao's back and lifts his other hand up to Minghao's hair. 

"I told you you'd find us." Wonwoo can't help but laugh as he cries.

"Yeah, you did." Wonwoo says and he squeezes Minghao harder. Presses him closer to himself. Wonwoo then feels someone hug him from behind and he turns his head to see Mingyu's face beaming at him as he wraps his arms around the two of them.

"Come on. you need to meet him." Mignyu says and Minghao nods as he pulls back. Minghao then turns and gave Jun a hug as Mingyu grabs Wonwoo's hand and pulls him towards the fire.

"You okay?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu nods.

" 'M sorry if I worried you." Wonwoo squeezed Mingyu's hand and Mingyu turns to Wonwoo.

"I'm just glad you're okay." Wonwoo says and Mingyu smiles. 

"But do that again and i will tesser you to the north pole in just your underwear." Wonwoo threatens but Mingyu just smiled wider and nods.

"I'm sure you will." Mingyu says and Wonwoo smiles. 

"Won. This is Lee Chan." Mingyu says as they approached the fire. He motions to the guy on their left, he looks just as he did on his file but his hair was now a light shade of brown. He had two packs of marshmallows open on his lap and he had his cheeks stuffed full of them as he waves at Wonwoo. 

"And this," Mingyu motioned for the other guy, he was maybe the same age as Chan, midnight black hair making his skin look a pristine shade of white and he was wearing a large hoodie that covers up his hands, 

"This is Grand Prime Lee." Mingyu finishes and Wonwoo froze.

Oh.

_ Oh shit. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WAAAAAAHHHHHH I HOPE THIS FIC IS A GOOD ONTRO FOR THIS UNIVERSE BECAUSE IM TURNING THIS INTO A SERIES! 
> 
> I HAVE USED UP A LOT OF TIME WORLDBUILDING AND PLANNING THE CHARACTERS AND IM NOT LETTING THAT GO TO WASTE IN JUST ONE FIC
> 
> ALSO  
I made a twitter account for writing fics it's @punk_asswriter my main is @punk_assnerd but yeah I use the other one for ranting while writing fics hahaha
> 
> If some things are still unclear to you guys please tell me in the comments or on twitter! I love talking about my fics please don't be shy I don't bite 
> 
> Not usually, anyways
> 
> But yeah
> 
> Hope you loved the update! This will finish off soon! 
> 
> Thank you for reading   
(づ￣ ³￣)づ


	4. Jun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After everything has been said and done, what will the four of them do? Jun may have been the expert in identifying the illusions from reality but for the first time since he's been with them, he finds it hard to know what's the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WAAAAAAAAHHHHHH JUN'S PART
> 
> OMG WHOS GRAND PRIME LEE? THE FUCK IS HE DOING WOTH THEM? WHAT EXACTLY IS CHAN'S ROLE HERE(none of you caught that by the way. Chan has a BIGGER part in this story than I made him out to be. I'm a maknae line enthusiast so) OMG WHAT HAPPENS NOW? 
> 
> Well. Find out what happens and don't hate me. Please.
> 
> Also This fic wouldn't have happened if it weren't for my twitter mutual MORGI! I HOPE THE OT4 WITCHY BOYFRIEND FIC LIVED UP TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS!

  
  


Jun heaves out a sigh and lets himself be pulled out of the fire. He opened his eyes and sees Mingyu smiling at him.

"Congratulations, Junhui. You have officially mastered Hearth and you are now also an official Grand Tesser. Making you the fourth Prime Wiccan of this generation." Grand Prime Lee says with a smile and Jun bows his head. He looks up and smiles at the other three, Chan talking to Wonwoo now as Minghao smiles from beside Wonwoo. Jun was the last to go into the fire, right after Wonwoo, and he watched as Grand Prime Lee had initiated the ritual, that would usually be held by four Grand Wiccans, by himself alone. Afterwards Wonwoo had come out of the fire when Minghao had pulled him out. Smiling and looking like he was glowing in his skin. After that Mingyu lead Jun to the fire and had told him that it'll be okay and here he was now. 

"Now that we're done with that..." Grand Prime Lee trails off. He snapped his fingers and Jun watches as Wonwoo's clothes blur for a second before shimmering bright and then settling back to their official robes, but the robes were different. The same thing happened to Minghao's clothes and now that he looks down at himself, his too. 

Their official robes are considered ceremonial robes. They all wore theirs when they were branded as Grands and now Jun's wondering why need them now when they've all just finished their sort of initiation ritual. 

"The colors are different." Mingyu says, checking the sleeves of his own robes and Jun's, lifting their still intertwined hands and Jun was surprised at the color of their sleeves. 

Their regular wiccan robes are simple black ones with hoods and sleeves that are loose at the ends. The robes are embroidered with the Oath of Order they all took before becoming wiccans, the oath is embroidered around their chest three times, one line going over each shoulder then circling back to their chest and one was horizontal one wrapping around their torso. Then one line around their collar and one for each end of their sleeves. And the other one is tattooed on their backs, right under their hearts. Seven seals. The oath is embroidered in white but will turn gold once you've master Hearth, so that would explain why all of theirs are gold, and their robes would turn from black to a specific color, depending on their craft. 

Mingyu's robe before had always stood out, the hue of a compulser was silver so his robes would stand out even if he wasn't the only one wearing them. But now it's... It changed from just silver, to a mix of silver and green, the color of the wild. The middle of his chest was a deep green and it slowly fades and glints slowly into silver at the ends. The gold embroidery standing out almost as beautiful as his skin does against the deep and vivid colors.

He turns to Wonwoo and Minghao and sees them looking at each other's robes. The same had happened to theirs but now, Wonwoo's usuals royal blue was now even more emphasized by the silver in the middle. While Minghao's deep green robe was now stark white in the middle as it fades to green at the edges. Minghao then looks to them and Jun smiles as he sees them look at his robe as well. Jun looks down and sees his usually pure white robe with a vivid royal blue middle that fades to white at the edges.

And as if struck by the same thought, they all turned to Grand Prime Lee and Chan at the same time. And Jun couldn't help but gasp at the sight.

Chan's robe was unusual, it was still black, meaning he isn't a grand of any craft yet, but the embroidery of the oath was already golden. But that's not what made Jun gasp. Grand Prime Lee's robe was a mix of all four colors with the embroidery glimmering, as if floating over the robe itself. The edge of his robes were blue which transitions to green, then to white, and the middle of his chest glimmers in silver. Grand Prime Lee then presses his palms together and does a sign that none of them has seen before. 

He curled his fingers save for his index fingers and forms somewhat the sign of the wild, but instead of his fingers pointing in different directions, he closes them, making a triangle on top of it. Then, out of nowhere, they hear a loud grunt from behind Grand Prime Lee and a huge beast crawls out of the ground behind him. Jun couldn't see it at first but once it stopped moving he saw that it has human like features but it was over twenty feet tall. It's skin was deep dark gray and it has a sort of brown tunic around his waist with a bunch of what looked like broken kids toys swaying over it. Jun looks up at its face and smiles as he sees it smiling down at them. Mingyu even lifts his hand and gave him a little wave which the creature returned. Grand Prime Lee laughed at that and turned to wave at it, too.

"This is Lero. He's a  _ Kapre _ ." Grand Prime Lee says, staring at Jun and he hears Wonwoo snort out a laugh.

"Hello Lero." Minghao says and the giant bowed down at him. 

" _ Kapres _ are great trackers. But, no, they do not accept your first born child as payment." Grand Prime Lee says and both Mingyu and Minghao says  _ What?  _ at the same time Wonwoo starts laughing. Jun groans and sighs. 

"Noted." Jun says and Mingyu turns to him with a big and absolutely amused smile. 

"Don't ask." Jun says and Mingyu laughs. 

"Lero was the one who guided Mingyu to me. They're natural compulsers, really. They have a bad reputation in their own home because you know how people think... they always villainize those that they do not understand." Jihoon says, pressing a soft hand at Lero's leg and Lero gently sits down with his knees folded in front of him. 

"They're gentle giants. They have the ability to travel through the wild by sending their souls into the trees. Much like tessering, in a way." Jihoon then held up a hand and faces his palm down. Then a plant sprouted up from the ground and grew up to a foot. Jihoon then turns and held up a hand towards Jun and Mingyu and they turned to see another plant sprouting from behind them, but this one was bigger. A minute later and a full grown tree was right behind them. Jun then turns back around and sees Grand Prime Lee smiling up at Lero and Lero smiles before clapping his palms together. Jun belatedly realized that they only have four fingers and by the time he had, Lero had started to dissipate into the air and Jun watches as his energy floats toward the small plant in front of him. After a few seconds they hear rustling from above them and Jun looks up to see Lero smiling down at them from where he was sitting on a thick branch of a tree. 

"That's amazing." Wonwoo says. He and Minghao had come up beside them now and were also looking up to Lero who was now waving at them. 

"It is." Grand Prime Lee says in a somber voice and Jun turns to him to see him frowning at the small plant at his foot.

"Well, it was." Grand Prime Lee says just as Jun hears Mingyu gasp and Jun looks up to see Lero fading. But not the same way as he did before. Now he was disappearing into golden dust that floats around the tree, swirling around them before floating through the small tree by Grand Prime Lee. 

"Lero was the last of his kind. He had been under my protection for over a century. And a month ago he faded."

" _ Faded _ ?" Minghao asks. And Grand Prime Lee nodded.

"So that was just an illusion?" Jun asks, because he knows it wasn't.

"Yes and no. It was an illusion, yes. The body you saw was. But that was his presence, his soul, that i have somewhat borrowed from the Wild. That is how he had managed to help Mingyu earlier. I had simply tessered him out of the wild for a while, is all." Grand Prime Lee says and Jun turns to Minghao and Wonwoo to see them just as dumbfounded as he was.

"You're not just Grands anymore. You're Prime Wiccans. And now you have the ability to use the crafts altogether even just when you are by yourselves." Grand Prime Lee explained and Jun thought back to his hand sign earlier. 

"The thing is, I have been watching all of you from the beginning." Grand Prime Lee says and Jun can't help but feel uneasy at that. Every single person that has said that to them had ended up trying to kill them so, you really can't blame Jun.

"You see, I have met the first set of Grand Primes. They had taught us all that we need to know. And a few centuries back they had decided to infuse their energies back to the Wild. Leaving us four to be the current Grand Primes." Grand Prime Lee says and Jun tries to understand what he's saying.

"So technically, you're one of the Five existing Grand Primes." Jun asks and Grand Prime Lee nods. 

"Well, technically, four. Grand Primes may be masters of all five crafts but there are still specifics. I'm the Grand Prime Tesser. And I have lived with three other Grand Primes. But no Grand Prime of Hearth. The original Grand Primes haven't told us much about that as well so we're not sure if there is one or not. Well, not until recently." Grand Prime Lee then turns to Chan and he smiled at him before turning to face them and smiling at them. 

"You see, the original Grand Primes may have been in the wild for centuries but they've recently been reincarnated. To the five wiccans that are standing with me as of now." Jun stares at Grand Prime Lee. Then he turns to look at Mingyu, then turns to look at Minghao and Wonwoo, and then turns back to stare at Grand Prime Lee. 

No one spoke a word for a good ten seconds. 

But then Chan spoke up. 

"The thing is, I have memories of my past life." Chan says. Jun turns to look at him and Jun tries to weigh just how much they should trust him.

"We all talked about this. And funnily enough, I was the least excited one." Chan says and Jun sees his eyes downcast. Then looks up to Jun's right and then down again. Right.

"It was your idea." Chan says, now looking right at Wonwoo.

" _ His?" _ Jun asks and Chan nods with a smile. 

"Yes. And you agreed instantly." Chan says and Jun stares him down. 

"And why would Grand Primes Tesser and Illustrate want to be reincarnated?" Jun asks and Grand Prime Lee answers by stepping up in front of Chan.

"Because the Wild is half dead and the wiccans are blindly protecting the people of the world instead of protecting the world from the people." Grand Prime Lee says and Jun stares at Grand Prime Lee. 

"What?" Minghao asks and Grand Prime Lee takes a deep breath. 

"The reason why you even decided to go and infuse yourselves to the wild was because you thought it would help heal it faster. And it did heal. It was healed. But all it did was wipe clean a broken glass." Grand Prime Lee says. 

"They left us here so we can protect the wild from the outside while they protect it from the inside. But the people of this world are constantly ripping the Wild apart. They have destroyed acres of lands just to build lands that break. And if that wasn't enough, they've managed to drown the oceans with their filth and their wastes." Grand Prime Lee says and Jun feels Mingyu's hand on his wrist. 

"Now you've come and you are here to set things right. All of you will train and in a few years time, you shall take your place as Grand Primes and correct the world." Grand Prime Lee says and Mingyu surprises all of them when he steps up and says, "No." 

Grand Prime Lee stares at him with a completely surprised expression and Jun feels Mingyu's hand around his wrist shaking. So Jun tells Mingyu that it's okay in his mind and he feels Mingyu relax.

"What you're asking of us is to act like Gods and to, to say which lives are worth more compared to the others." Mingyu says, stuttering a bit, but still as confidently as he can.

"You were the one who said that humans were hopeless. You told us that reincarnation was pointless because humans can't be saved." Chan says from behind Jihoon and Mingyu sighs.

"Then why was i still reincarnated?" Mingyu asks with his chest.

"Because you decided that the only solution was to  _ not _ save them." Chan says quietly and Mingyu tensed up.

"Well, that's… That's what the Grand Prime Compulser said. And I'm not him.  _ We're _ not them." Mingyu says. Grand Prime Lee stares at him, weighing him and his words before sighing. 

"I see. Well. Good luck going back to your people then, Kim Mingyu. The same people that have shunned you since before. The same people who have told you you weren't normal are the same people you're trying to protect." Grand Prime Lee says. Jun steps in front of Mingyu at the same time Wonwoo moves to Mingyu's right and Minghao moved behind Jun and Mingyu. They've heard all this bullshit before. 

"Using his insecurities won't get you anywhere." Wonwoo says and Grand Prime Lee stares him down. 

"And you'll find that making an enemy out of me won't get  _ you _ anywhere." Grand Prime Lee says.

"From friendly wise teacher to psychotic killer in under a minute. That's nice." Jun adds and Grand Prime Lee glares at him as well.

"Stop it." Chan steps up and pushes Grand Prime Lee back. "Arguing with them will get us nowhere. Whatever he said before means nothing to them. They don't know who they are." Chan says and Jun takes that as an opportunity to talk to them. 

Jun concentrates and links all three of them before talking to them in his mind. A very useful trick Jeonghan had taught him years back. He constructs and illusion version of himself that only they can see and he uses this as his way of talking to them without actually talking.

_ "Do we believe him or not?" _ Jun asks and the lack of response after a few seconds was answer enough.

_ "Well, we're not about to end human kind are we?" _ Jun asks and no answer again. 

_ "Chan isn't convincing but Grand Prime Lee is. If we really are them then I don't think we have even the slightest bit of an idea on what to do. And I've already signalled out for help." _ Wonwoo says back directly in Jun's head and Jun looks at Minghao and Mingyu. Then out of nowhere, Mingyu speaks out loud. 

"Why don't we have memories but you do?" Mingyu asks. Chan turns and smiles.

"Grand Prime Hearth. The Wild destroyed my memories but I got them back eventually." Chan says. Jun was still wary of him and Wonwoo being unsure of him just puts him on edge even more.

"Then tell me why did we all collectively decide to have our memories erased?" Mingyu asks and Chan looked caught off guard by the question. 

"I... I don't know..." Chan says. Grand Prime Lee puts a hand on his shoulder and then glares at them. 

"You have to believe us that this is what you had planned to do." Grand Prime Lee says. 

"Stop telling us that. Whoever planned that isn't us anymore. And you don't get to decide who we are." Minghao says. Grand Prime Lee then gave him a sneer and Jun inches closer to Minghao and Mingyu.

"I have looked out for you your entire life. All of us have. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Grand Prime Lee says. 

"That doesn't mean shit." Wonwoo says and Jun can't help but smile at Grand Prime Lee's appalled face.

" _ Children _ . I'm working with children." Grand Prime Lee says and Jun was about to say something about no one working with anyone when the ground began to shake.

Jun looked around and realized that the ground wasn't shaking, the whole place was. Someone was trying to break into the space. Tessering into unwelcoming territory is always hard and taxing but Jun feels someone breaking in slowly. 

"Who did you call?" Grand Prime Lee asks and Jun sees him glaring at Wonwoo. Wonwoo smirks and shrugs. Just then, a crack appeared behind Grand Prime Lee and light broke through as two figures emerges from the light. Grand Prime Lee was still facing them but his face fell the second Seungcheol curses. 

"You guys doing okay...?" Jeonghan's question trailed off as he stares at their robes and Jun grabs for Mingyu and Wonwoo does the same to Minghao and they tesser themselves next to Jeonghan and Seungcheol.

"This place was a bitch to get into. Who is that anyways?" Seungcheol asks and Grand Prime Lee laughs.

"Language." Grand Prime Lee says and Seungcheol tenses. Grand Prime Lee turns around and smiles at them. 

"I could say I'm impressed but I wouldn't have expected any less from you." Grand Prime Lee says and Jeonghan moves to put a hand on Seungcheol's shoulder as he starts to step forward. 

" _ Jihoon?" _ Seungcheol says and Jun turns to Mingyu as he presses a hand on his chest before staring at Seungcheol.

"I did teach you everything you know." Grand Prime Lee says and Mingyu starts breathing heavily. 

"What?" Mingyu says, clutching his chest and Jeonghan turns to see and his face contorts into something he's never showed them before. He looks scared. 

"Wonwoo, I'm gonna need you to take us out of here as soon as you can." Jeonghan says, tightening his grip on Seungcheol as Seungcheol just stares.

"There is no need for that." Grand Prime Lee says and he lifts his right hand and faces his palm to them.

"We will see each other again, Prime Wiccans. I hope my desperation hasn't tainted your perception of what I am  _ hoping _ to achieve. I am not the enemy here." Grand Prime Lee says and Jun can feel him encasing them in a spell. 

"At least i know that you four are in good hands." Grand Prime Lee says as he stares at Jeonghan before looking back to them. Before looking back directly at Mingyu

"Wiccans are here to maintain the balance of our world. Remember that." Grand Prime Lee says before ending the stitching of the spell. And just then Seungcheol runs forward and started punching and clawing at the spell. 

"No. No no no. Not again. Not like this.  _ Jihoon, wait!" _ Seungcheol says and Jeonghan holds him back. 

"Take care of him, Hannie. Be well." Grand Prime Lee says and just as they tesser out of his void space, Jun swears he sees Grand Prime Lee smile.

  
  
  


The second Jun felt his feet hit the ground, he looks around and sees them back in the infirmary where they left Mingyu's body. Seungcheol was standing by the door with Jeonghan behind him and Wonwoo and Minghao were staring at them as well, both of them wearing their clothes from before. Jun then hears a soft thud to his left and sees Mingyu on his hands and knees on the floor by the bed. Jun moved to kneel in front of him and Mingyu looks up at him with tears streaming down his face. Streaming in the most literal sense of the word. He looked so crestfallen as he looks right at Jun's eyes and Jun holds his face and wipes his face as much as he can.

"I... He's..." Mingyu's eyes then moves behind Jun and Jun follows his line of sight to see him staring at Seungcheol. Jun turns to Mingyu again and smiles as Mingyu keeps crying quietly. He tilts his head forward and lets their forehead touch as he closes his eyes and he lets Mingyu show him what he feels.

And a second later Jun feels almost as if his heart doubled in size from the weight in his chest. He lets tears fall from his closed eyes as he feels Mingyu's hands gripping his shirt. Jun can almost feel some sort of string tugging his heart from behind as he feels Minghao and Wonwoo reach out to them. Jun could almost imagine the entire room with his eyes closed. Just all of them feeling the same thing.

They can feel the loss of something that's still so close. The pain that sticks to your memories like an arrow buried in your chest, pain that makes memories even more vibrant than they are. More real than they are. 

And Jun knows more than anyone that memories that seem real are the most dangerous ones. 

And then everything just stops.

The pain and loss and heartbreak.

All of it.

Just gone. 

Jun hears the soft click of the doorknob being turned and a door being opened and then he hears it close in a soft click. He pulls away from Mingyu and turns to Jeonghan by the door. By himself. 

Jeonghan pockets his hands, tilts his head up and sighs. Jun watched as he turns around and smiles at them, his hair falling slightly over his eyes as he looks at them one by one. 

"He'll be fine. I guess having the ability to fold time and space would make one good at running from things." Jeonghan says as Jun helps Mingyu up and they sit back on the bed.

"There's one thing even Tesser can't run away from." Wonwoo says and Jeonghan nods.

"That is what I was hoping he'll eventually learn from  _ you _ ." Jeonghan says and Jun looks over to Wonwoo and sees him frozen in his place. Minghao was looking back and forth towards Jeonghan and Wonwoo before turning to look at Jun.

"What does that mean?" Minghao asks and Jun looks towards Jeonghan. 

"The thing is, as of now, none of you are under my care anymore." Jeonghan says and Jun stands up. Before any of them could say something Jeonghan raises his hand and shakes his head.

"You four are Prime Wiccans now. I'm pretty sure you four can do things i can't even begin to imagine. You won't need me anymore." Jeonghan says and Jun looks around the room, He stares at all three of them one by one and he smiles and he sees Wonwoo smiling too.

"All of those who says they still need Jeonghan, raise your hand." Jun says, raising his hand. Wonwoo raises his right arm the same time Minghao laughs and raises his hand as well. Jun turns behind him and sees Mingyu smiling with his eyes still a bit puffy and his hand raised. Jun turns to Jeonghan again and sees him smiling at him.

"Apparently,  _ maturity _ doesn't come with abilities." Jeonghan says and Jun shrugs.

"We don't need you to teach us anymore. We haven't for a while now and you know it. But we still need you to help us with this. Especially now. Even Grand Prime Lee thinks so. He said we're in good hands and all of us agree." Jun says and Jeonghan nods.

"Very well. And since your impromptu ritual was initiated by the standing Grand Prime Tesser, you all have about ten more days before everyone's attention would be on you." Jeonghan says and Jun smiles. 

"Just ten?" Jun asks and Jeonghan gave him a look. Jeonghan then closes his eyes and Jun watches as he sees images of the four of them standing in front of Jeonghan. 

"Two weeks. That's as long as I'll give you." Jeonghan says before their illusion selves dissipates into the air. 

"Two weeks. But after that you come back, tell me everything, and then you behave as we fend off everyone coming for you." Jeonghan says and Mingyu stands up. 

" _ Coming for us?" _ Mingyu asks and Jeonghan smiles softly.

"No need to worry, for now. But, you guys will be branded as a threat by the council. The constitution of the primes have nothing written about you and that will make them anxious." Jeonghan explains.

"We read about Prime Wiccans all the time." Minghao says and Jeonghan nods.

"Yes. But never about  _ four _ Prime Wiccans  _ entangled _ with each other and each are a master of more than two crafts." Jeonghan says and Mingyu steps closer to Jun, grabbing his hand.

"Don't fret much. We'll worry about that together. Later." Jeonghan says and all of them nods.

"Two weeks later." Wonwoo says and Jeonghan nods.

"You come to me the moment you feel someone on your trail and always blend in. Go wherever but tell me immediately where. Seungcheol is an open line as well but perhaps give him a few days. All of your things are still secured in your car and-" Jeonghan pulls out something from his pocket and throws it over to Jun. Jun catches it and sees a wooden pocket watch in his hands.

Jun stares at the encryption on it and smiles as he opens it and stares at the floating ball of water inside where a clock would usually be in a pocket watch. 

"It's a relic. Seungcheol and I made it and you'll be able to talk to us with that. Seungcheol seems to have grown fond of you over the few hours he's spent with you and I'm sure Jun can figure out how it works." Jeonghan says and Jun nods.

"Well, off you go then. Two weeks and update me at least once a day, please." Jeonghan says before going out the door.

Jun then pockets the relic and stares at the other three.

"Well..." Jun says, he pulls out the marker Wonwoo had made earlier and held it up in front of him. He smiles at them as all of them does the same and Jun closes his palm on the stone and lets it tesser him back to where the car was parked. He opens his eyes and watches as Wonwoo and Minghao appeared instantly right after him and Mingyu appeared a few seconds later with a smile on his face. It was already dark out and to be honest, Jun wasn't sure if it was still the same day or not. Being in void space kind of fucked up his sense of time.

"I'm driving." Jun says and heads straight for the drivers side. Minghao throws the keys to him over the car as he takes the passenger seat and Wonwoo and Mingyu gets in at the back. They settled inside, looked at each other for a few seconds, and Jun pulls the car out of the parking space and back out onto the road.

"So... two weeks. Where to?" Jun asks. He glanced at Minghao and then at the two at the back.

"Well, it's only seven so i think we can still do that shopping spree you all were talking about." Minghao says and Jun nods. 

"No making out in the dressing room, please." Wonwoo says and Minghao laughs.

"You weren't complaining when  _ we _ were making out." Minghao says and Jun stares at Wonwoo through the rearview mirror.

"I have every right to enjoy that." Wonwoo says and Jun doesn't need to look to know that Minghao is rolling his eyes.

"So do we, dumbass." Jun says and Wonwoo groans.

"How about we just all agree that no one makes out in the dressing room and we all wait until we're back in our hotel room." Mingyu says.

"What hotel room?" Jun asks and Mingyu leans forward and shows his phone to the rest of them.

"The five star hotel that i just booked for us. We get there by midnight and check out after lunch." Mingyu says and then he sits back down. 

"Mall closes at around nine. Lots of food places around the area." Mingyu says.

"Lots of bars too,  _ apparently _ ." Wonwoo says from behind.

"Check  _ 'walking street, Angeles City' _ ." Minghao says and Wonwoo whistles a few seconds later.

"How do you even know about this place?" Mingyu asks and Jun turns to see Mignhao with a smug grin.

"What? What is it?" Jun asks but Minghao just tells him to turn on the next exit. 

"Are we going there?" Jun asks.

"I don't see why we have to, really." Mingyu says.

"Oh but they have  _ lots _ of shops there. We're  _ definitely _ going." Wonwoo says and Minghao laughs. 

"Yeah sure. No one explain to Jun." Jun says and they all laugh. Jun just drives and listens to Minghao's directions and they stare at the mall as Jun drives around for a good parking spot. 

The night went as well as they had hoped it would. No one made out in the dressing rooms as Minghao and Mingyu picked clothes for them and Jun just lets Mignhao do his thing and lets him dress him up. They eventually had to leave when the mall starts closing up and they all left the store with four bags each. They drove around the area some more and Mingyu yelled when he saw a small ramen stall open. Jun drove around and went back and they all enjoyed a bowl even though it's already so hot outside. Afterwards they drove around some more and went to a few drive thrus to kill time until it's midnight and also just because it's fun to spend as much money as they can on food. Wonwoo then started instructing Jun on where to go and they ended up passing by the  _ 'Walking Street' _ they were talking about earlier and Jun sees a whole street of just bars and pubs all lined up one after the other. They couldn't go in since it's literally just a walking street meaning no cars are allowed but Wonwoo just said it's okay and then started giving directions to their hotel. 

Jun drives along as Minghao connects his phone to the car audio system and he and Mingyu sings along to whatever pop music it was. Jun rolled up all the windows and blasted the ac on the coldest it can get and smiles as their voices just rings throughout the car.

Two weeks.

He's got two more weeks of this kind of life, this kind of normal, before everyone hooks their attention on them.

This is the last two weeks of this kind of life for them and he's not sure if he wants that or not. He's not even entirely on board on going back after these two weeks, to be honest. It'd be really easy to just disappear from them and all four of them could just live their lives the way they want to. To live their lives any way they want to. 

But he still has two weeks. All of them still have two more weeks before they have to go back. _Then_, that's when Jun will have to decide whether to stay or to stay out of this life, for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WAAAAAAHHHHHH and that ends the very first fic of this series! I'm still juggling between the names for the series but uh if you guys have any suggestions please tell me. 
> 
> Well, I hope this didn't seem as rushed as I think it is? I don't know how to say this but I wanted to keep the talking to a minimum so I don't end up accidentally ex0laining the plot of the WHOLE series LMAO. 
> 
> Well it's done. I've birthed a complete fic with ot4. I'm a dad now.  
I made this from my twitter mutual's idea of witch ot4 and I hope. I made it as witch as they wanted. MORGI ARE YOU READING THIS? WELL I DID IT. I FINIHSED IT HAHAHAHAHA
> 
> okay now I'm not gonna EXPLAIN everything but here's a few things that I will have to point out. 
> 
> Grand Primes are like, deities. God-like personas for the wiccan community. And there's the Original Grand Primes and the Second Grand Prime. The original Grand Primes are the one that's said to be reincarnated to the 5, Wonwoo, mingyu, Minghao, Jun, and Chan. The second Grand Primes aren't known. They aren't officially announced, no ritual whatsoever. They were all chosen for their skills and one by one became the Grand Prime that they are now. Grand Prime teaser is Jihoon and the four will be revealed as the story progressed. 
> 
> The system goes as this.  
Wizards (i will explain more about wizards on the next fic) can graduate to Wiccans 
> 
> Wiccans start in institute where they train all four crafts and graduate as Grand of one Craft. 
> 
> A wiccan who masters a Craft and the craft of Hearth, are dubbed as Grand Wiccan.
> 
> And a wiccan that has mastered the Craft of Hearth and two more are Prime Wiccans
> 
> And a master of all craft is dubbed as a Grand Prime Wiccan
> 
> And an institute is run by four Grand Wiccans of their specific Crafts and one will stand as the head of the institute. Institute 1 is in Seoul, where Jeonghan is the head, and institute 13 is in the Philippines, where Seungcheol is the head. I got the idea in Shadowhunters, really. The politics of the entire series was amazing so I incorporated that. 
> 
> The fictional beings I added where inspired by The Wizarding world of Harry Potter and the whole Mission set up is from the entire Demigod series by Rick Riordan. 
> 
> This thing is a melting pot of all the fictional books that have invaded my heart and my mind growing up and I loved how it turned out. Im so thankful for the response I got for this because I have never been as invested in world making as this. 
> 
> Please expect more from this universe and if you have any comments or questions just leave them in the comments or tell me on twitter  
I made an account just for my fics and it's @punk_asswriter please feel free to talk to me there! 
> 
> Thank you so so much for reading I really appreciate it. 
> 
> -Nicki

**Author's Note:**

> ALRIGHT EVERYONE WHO HAS QUESTIONS ASK AWAY I KNOW I MAY HAVE CONFUSED YOU ALL A BIT IN SOME PARTS SO FIRE AWAY IN THE COMMENTS SECTION
> 
> THIS FIC IS ONLY 4 OR 5 CHAPTERS AND IM JUST EDITING THE REST


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